UMass Amherst to become center for fuel cell research

November 27, 2007 02:40 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

(Globe file photo)

By Globe Staff

The University of Massachusetts at Amherst announced today that a federal grant will help the school become one of three national centers for the development of hydrogen fuel cells, a cleaner alternative to gas and oil.

The three-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation will give UMass Amherst a prominent role in the effort to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. The award to the Fueling the Future Chemical Bonding Center will also put the school in a position to secure an additional $30 million in federal money.

"The aim of these centers is to give scientists opportunities to tackle big challenges in chemistry, in an atmosphere that's flexible and tolerant of risk," said Katharine Covert, director of the Chemistry Centers Program at the National Science Foundation, in a statement. "We want to encourage very talented people to attack major challenges that also engage the public and have a long-term societal benefit."

Hydrogen fuel cells create a direct current of electricity without carbon dioxide emissions. The technology will likely be used to power automobiles and boats and in computers and cell phones.

The UMass Amherst center will investigate how protons are transferred from one molecule to another, which will help increase the efficiency of fuel cells. The study will be led by S. "Thai" Thayumanavan, a UMass Amherst chemist.

"Nature has evolved systems for shuttling protons at really impressive rates — it's happening in our cells all the time. But these molecules cannot be taken out of their native environments and installed onto a fuel cell," Thayumanavan said in a statement. "Our objective is to discover the molecules and materials required to get really efficient proton transfer -- which groups are best at donating protons, which are best at accepting them -- and how can we optimize the handshake between the donor and the acceptor."

If UMass Amherst demonstrates high potential after three years, the school would be eligible for $15 million more in federal funding over five years. That grant could be followed by an additional $15 million.