Waterloo Engineering professor fuels research that aims to reduce the carbon footprint.
Hydrogen, the simplest and most abundant element, could be the best renewable energy source to fuel vehicles of the future. Dr. XiaoYu Wu, a mechanical and mechatronics engineering professor at the University of Waterloo, certainly believes so — and he is not alone.
The worldwide demand for hydrogen is growing exponentially, notably for its ability to power vehicles without releasing harmful emissions. Global leaders and industry, particularly in the transportation sector, see the value of the gas as an alternative fuel to help our world decarbonize and reach net zero emissions.
The challenge is that hydrogen is light — it needs to be compressed at high pressure or turned into liquid to store it for transportation. Traditional methods are energy intense and costly. Wu and his team of graduate and post-doctoral students are working to solve this issue with their research into the potential of ammonia as a safe and efficient storage cell for hydrogen transportation.
Read more at University of Waterloo
Image: Dr. XiaoYu Wu (back row, second from right) with his research team in the lab. (Photo by Martin Schwalbe)