Abstract

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From its humble beginnings as Alessandro Volta’s “voltaic pile”, electrochemical power (EP) has been power ing paradigm shifts in technology for the past 150 years. From the life-support systems in manned space explo ration of the 1960s, to the electric vehicles of the last 20 years, EP has been the unsung hero. EP is enjoying renewed focus and a flurry of R&D activities in today’s resource-constrained and environment-conscious world that is urgently looking for a “silver-bullet” for its global warming and pollution problems. This paper discusses the impetus for the renewed interest in EP, with emphasis on its storied high operating efficiencies and green credentials, compared with traditional power production systems. It highlights the impact of cumula tive years of EP R&D, the basic electrochemistry of mature EP systems, the global energy conundrum and the steady permeation of EP into the global energy mix. Recent re-imagination trends of EP into applications hith erto the preserve of traditional power technologies and novel applications outside of its native scope of porta ble and reserve power were also discussed. In view of the inevitable global shift towards EP as a veritable fu ture energy source, the urgent need for a strategic local R&D focus on EP in Nigeria was emphasised. In view of this, the research efforts and direction of our team at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife are presented and put in context.

Keywords: Energy, Battery, Electrochemical, Fuel Cells