The IGERT Sustainable Energy from Solar Hydrogen summer project included five UD students, an undergraduate student from Lincoln University and a recently graduated high school student.
Students were introduced to new concepts involving hydrogen storage, fuel cells, solar policy and photovoltaics. Participants also took courses in ethics, effective oral communication skills and health and safety procedures during the 10-week session.
Academic disciplines represented during the summer program included economics, materials science, electrical and computer engineering and chemical engineering, Mo Bremner, program coordinator in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, said.
“Students were expected to research an area of their choosing, with guidance from faculty, and to present their findings in weekly presentations attended by grad students and faculty,” Bremner said. “It was truly an interdisciplinary exercise, and the undergraduates really benefited from the whole experience.”
Support for the project came from the UD's Institute of Energy Conversion (IEC) and the departments of economics, materials science and electrical engineering, Bremner said.
“A special thanks also needs to go to Air Liquide, who provided students with a site visit and a glimpse of how a hydrogen fuel cell works,” Bremner said. “The students also got to travel in UD's hydrogen fuel cell bus.”
The following students participating in the IGERT summer undergraduate experience.
Andy Damiani, a sophomore chemical engineering and biochemistry major from Hockessin, said that the IGERT program increased his knowledge of photovoltaics, fuel cells and the economic aspects of a hydrogen infrastructure. “I thought that the lectures were interesting, especially Prof. [Jochen] Lauterbach's talk on hydrogen storage,” Damiani said. “I enjoyed the various activities, like riding on the fuel cell bus and going to Air Liquide. Giving oral presentations was a good experience because it improved my public speaking skills.”
Ouloide Yannick Goue, a junior physics and mathematics major at Lincoln University from Kennett Square, Pa., said that summer internships help to advance scientific reasoning abilities among participants. “My internship was at the Institute of Energy Conversion under the supervision of Brian McCandless. My research interest was tailoring the optical band-gap in DdTe-CdSe alloy systems to increase the open circuit voltage (Voc),” Goue said. “On the whole we made solar cells, which yielded different band-gaps and differing open circuit voltages. Our results are promising so far as ongoing research is concerned. It also was fun to participate in every process that involved making cells.”
Bogdan Nedanov, a senior mathematics and economics major from Newark, said that program helped him to become familiar with the area of alternative fuels in general, and solar hydrogen in particular. “Due to multiple economic and practical reasons, my analysis was focused on the transportation sector, particularly the use of inner city transportation buses as the first to be converted [to using solar hydrogen as fuel],” Nedanov said. “The goal of this analysis was to determine the costs associated with certain levels of hydrogen use in city buses for a specific target year.”
Erin Mcauliffe, a sophomore in the College of Engineering from Hockessin, measured the minority carrier lifetimes and thicknesses of silicon wafers with silicon nitride films deposited on them before and after annealing. Mcauliffe's research goal was to help determine which silicon nitride films produce the best minority carrier lifetimes, a quality that directly impacts the efficiency of the solar cell. “I liked doing a project that I didn't know the answer to, and having to learn how to operate the different machines,” Mcauliffe said. “The research was interesting and the people at IEC and Evans [Hall] were very helpful and nice.”
Juanita Jablasone researched the passivation (how to make inactive) of silicon solar cells, a process she describes as important in improving cell efficiency and dependability. “I learned a lot about research methods and topics that are directly related to courses offered in my major,” Jablasone said. “I also worked with incredibly smart people who were willing to listen to me and to understand things from my perspective.”
Article by Jerry Rhodes
