During this century, the human race will have to address the challenge of profoundly transforming the world energy system to make it much more sustainable and environmentally friendly than the one we currently have. Thus, it is a widely accepted fact that no single energy source can provide a comprehensive solution to achieve the goal of techno economically viable sustainable energy. A robust mix of various energy sources such as nuclear, fossil fuels, solar, wind, and so on, along with inventions and innovations in storage, transmission, and distribution, will be required to meet the growing demands of energy and availability to the end-users.
Hydrogen is a clean fuel that can be produced from many sources like biomass, fossil fuels, water, and nuclear power. For a sustainable future reliance on hydrogen as clean, affordable, efficient and green source of energy is very important. The energy yield obtained from hydrogen is 122 kJ/ g that are 2.75 times higher than other hydrocarbon fuels. The hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are thrice more efficient than gasoline vehicles. As hydrogen exists as gas at room temperature and pressure, hence has greater storage and transportation barriers as compared to other liquid fuels. For hydrogen to be used effectively, it should be stored rapidly and reversibly with a high gravimetric and volumetric density. The major disadvantage with hydrogen storage is the lower volumetric density of the hydrogen. But there is advantage of hydrogen that it doesn’t release any harmful emissions on conversion to electrical energy and is also accepted as the most efficient and environmental friendly energy carrier.
Our research group on energy harvesting and storage works on synthesis and characterization of various nanomaterials/nanocomposites in solar cells, hydrogen generation and storage applications. This group also works on fabrication of solar cells, triboelectric nanogenerators, hydrogen generation and storage devices.