Conventional energy conversion systems (such as internal combustion engines) have some major drawbacks: they rely on the use of dwindling fossil fuel resources; they contribute heavily to environmental pollutants; and they are very inefficient. For example, chemical hydrocarbon combustion in an engine has only about 30% efficiency, meaning only 30% of the chemical energy is converted into useful work. In addition, these processes yield a high amount of various environmental pollutants such as CO2, which has been related to global warming. Promising alternatives to the standard combustion technology rely on an electrochemical conversion of hydrocarbon fuels into electrical energy fuel cells.

Eranda Nikolla, a fifth-year graduate student working with professors Suljo Linic and Johannes Schwank, is developing robust solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) anode electro-catalysts that can operate on hydrocarbon fuels. SOFCs are promising alternatives to combustion engines. They offer higher efficiencies at greater than 70% and are environmentally friendlier than conventional combustion systems. She has demonstrated that certain nickel-containing alloys offer superior performance compared to conventional SOFC anodes. Her work is significant since it paves the way for the development of a new generation of anode materials that can be used for the production of electrical energy directly by converting the chemical energy of hydrocarbon fuels.

Eranda’s work has yielded multiple publications in several high-ranked journals. She has also received the Best Student Presentation Award at the Michigan Catalysis Society Annual Meeting, Best Poster Presentation Award at the Gordon Research Conference in Catalysis and the Walter J. Weber Jr. Award in Environmental and Energy Sustainability. Eranda says the outstanding range of resources available to her as a student at the University of Michigan, such as top-of-the-line microscopy, spectroscopy, and theoretical tools, have given her a unique opportunity to succeed in her research.