Development of fuel cells in Turkey

Especially in recent years, global warming and climate change have been significant challenges for the world and humanity has sought alternative energy resources instead of fossil fuels which cause air pollution and produce greenhouse gases. In this sense, many researchers throughout the world have focused on fuel cells, which are devices producing environmentally friendly electrical energy thanks to the electrochemical reaction between hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, and oxygen. The production and development of fuel cells are important for our country because of having a significant voice in the field of advanced energy technologies, increasing the quality of life by reducing the negative effects of energy resources on the environment, and reducing our dependence on foreign energy sources by meeting the increasing energy demand with local energy resources. In this thesis, 265 approved theses related to fuel cells obtained by scanning the database of the YÖK National Thesis Center between 2000-2021 years were analyzed. In parallel with the general trend of the world, most of the examined theses were associated with polimer electrolyte membran fuel cell (PEMFC) and solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) taken second place. They are followed by the direct alcohol fuel cell and the direct borohydride fuel cell using fuel boron of which raw material is abundantly available in Turkey, respectively. In the studies related to PEMFC, different materials were used to the improvement of membrane, gas diffusion layer, catalyst layer and water management. On the other hand, in the studies including SOFC, various materials were employed for the enhancement of interconnector, anode, cathode and electrolyte components. The effect of these materials on the performance of PEMFC and SOFC was analysed in detail. The university-industry cooperation projects at Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University Research Center and TÜBİTAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) MAM Energy Institute constitute an important infrastructure for the development of fuel cell technologies in Turkey. In this context, it is necessary to increase the number of similar institutions, academic studies and university-industry collaboration projects related to production of fuel cell systems in Turkey.