An industrialist from Punjab has developed a new fuel cell technology that could significantly reduce the cost of clean energy systems and boost the adoption of hydrogen-based electric vehicles in India.
Dr HS Cheema, Chairman of Cheema Boilers Limited based in Ropar district, has developed a catalyst technology that replaces expensive palladium with specially doped graphite. The innovation has already received a patent from the Centre and is now moving towards field testing.
Fuel cells generate electricity through an electrochemical reaction rather than combustion. In hydrogen fuel cells, hydrogen reacts with oxygen to produce electricity, heat and water, making them a clean and efficient energy source.
However, the high cost of catalysts such as palladium and platinum has been one of the major barriers to large-scale adoption of fuel cell technology.
Dr Cheema said his system uses chemically modified graphite as a catalyst instead of palladium. Graphite is abundant, inexpensive and highly conductive. Through a process known as doping, its surface properties are altered so that it can effectively accelerate the reaction inside the fuel cell.
“In conventional fuel cells, palladium is used as a catalyst, but it is a costly and scarce material. We have replaced it with doped graphite, which can drastically reduce the cost of fuel cell production,” he said.
According to him, the technology could reduce the cost of fuel cell systems by up to 60 per cent depending on the size and capacity of the cell. This could make fuel cells commercially viable for large-scale use, particularly in electric mobility.
A prototype using the graphite-based catalyst has already been developed and evaluated at institutions, including the IIT, Ropar, and a CSIR laboratory in Chandigarh. The next stage involves testing the system under real field conditions.
With India promoting green hydrogen under the National Green Hydrogen Mission, innovations that lower the cost of hydrogen technologies could help accelerate the transition to cleaner energy systems.
