Fuel Cells and Hydrogen

Viktor Hacker, a mechanical engineer with a habilitation in electrochemistry is leading a research group of over fifteen persons at the Institute of Chemical Engineering at TU Graz for more than 15 years. The strongly interdisciplinary research group is working in applied research of low temperature fuel cells and hydrogen production.

Hacker successfully led a Christian Doppler Laboratory (www.cdg.ac.at) with industrial partners (2002-2009) and has vast experience in national, international and industrial R&D projects in the field of fuel cells and hydrogen. Hacker is currently guiding more than 10 PhD students, has published numerous peer reviewed articles, seven book contributions and is the (co-)editor of the yearly abstract book of the summer school (www.tugraz.at/fcsummerschool).

Hacker is organizing a yearly summer school on fuel cells in co-operation with Yokohama National University and acts as Austrian Representative in the International Energy Agency (IEA), Implementing Agreement on Advanced Fuel Cells Annex 31 and Annex 35. This book will be used in the summer schools in future.

Professor Shigenori Mitsushima is heading the Chemical Energy Laboratory of the Green Hydrogen Research Center and the Research unit for chemistry of hydrogen energy conversion of the Institute of Advanced Sciences in Yokohama National University (YNU). He received Master’s degree from YNU in 1989, and he joined Hitachi, Ltd. He received Doctor in Engineering degree from YNU in 1998, when he had been in Hitachi, Ltd. During this period, he had studied and developed molten carbonate fuel cells. In 2000, he joined YNU as a research associate, and got full professor in 2011 through associate professor from 2006. He has longtime experience for research on fuel cell technology, industrial electrolysis, and hydrogen energy from material to systems as an academic and an industrial engineer. He is a director of the Electrochemical Society of Japan and Hydrogen Energy System Society of Japan, associate editor for Electrocatalysis, and an organizer of yearly summer school on fuel cells in co-operation with Prof. Hacker, Graz University of Technology. Recent research topics are materials and membrane electrolyzer system of hydrogenation of toluene with water decomposition for energy carrier synthesis, nickel based durable anode of alkaline water electrolysis to connect renewable energies, and non-precious metal oxide electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs).