Finalists of the "UMNIK" competition are creating an electrochemical generator for eco-transport in the Baikal water area

INRTU students Danil Volygin, Alexander Sukhanov and Roman Maslennikov headed by associate professor Nikolay Ivanov are developing an electrochemical generator for eco-transport in the Baikal water area. The project is recommended for financing within the framework of the "UMNIK" contest of the Foundation for Assistance to Innovations. The research group will receive 500 thousand rubles for creation and testing of a prototype on one of the existing catamarans.

Nikolay Ivanov, an associate professor in the Department of Radioelectronics and Telecommunication Systems at the School of High Technology, has been doing applied research in the field of nanopower engineering for over 15 years. The Irkutsk scientist earlier cooperated with colleagues from the Republic of Korea.

At the moment Nikolay Ivanov is working on creation of electrochemical generator together with talented second year students of BS BRICS Danil Volygin and Roman Maslennikov. The team also includes graduate student Alexander Sukhanov.

The importance of the project, according to Associate Professor Nikolai Ivanov, is based on the fact that the proposed device will be able to generate electricity from hydrogen. The advantages of the development are environmental friendliness, affordability, fast refueling time, and extended temperature range.

The power device generates only water and no carbon dioxide emissions. Combined with the geographical and production resources of Siberia, this makes the project cost-effective.

"The main advantage of our technology is to increase the efficiency of membranes without the use of sulfur. In the long run, this will make production cheaper.

We created the model of electrochemical cells all by ourselves. Inside each is a water cooling system to maintain the required temperature. The inlet fuel system ensures uniform distribution of gases on the surface due to the design features," said Roman Maslennikov about the technical component of the project.