Approach to developing a multi-disciplinary university fuel cell program

The word, fuel-cell, implies a collection of many things: catalytic electrodes, a polymer electrolyte membrane, fuel and air (oxidant) supplies, mass- and heat-transport controllers and power-conditioning electronics as well as housings for the fuel cell (bipolar plates), the fuel (fuel cartridge) and the whole system (packaging). No one researcher can develop a complete fuel-cell power source system. A number of research teams within and between various academic disciplines are working on the different aspects of the fuel-cell power-source. This multidisciplinary approach involves catalyst/electrolyte developments in the School of Materials, Departments of Chemistry and Physics, fluidics in the Chemical and Mechanical Engineering Departments, water assaying in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering working with the Arizona Water Institute (AWI), controls and power conditioning in the Electrical Engineering department, and global impacts are being evaluated in the School of Design, ASU's Global Institute of Sustainability and Arizona Institute for Renewable Energy (AIRE).