The Gene and Linda Voiland School of

Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering

Faculty

Su Ha, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

The Gene and Linda Voiland
School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering
Washington State University
118 Dana Hall Spokane St.
P.O. Box 642710
Pullman, WA 99164-2710



Office: EME B53 (Tel: 509 335-3786)
Lab: ETRL 326 (Tel: 509 335-1361)
suha@wsu.edu
Dr. Ha's Website

Graduate Students

Sean S.-Y. Lin
Oscar G. Marin Flores

Research Interests

My research group's general interests lie in the area of energy generations from alternative fuels in a variety of ways. Among them, we especially focus on generating hydrogen gas from bio-fuels and abundant natural gases, developing a liquid organic fuel cell that directly converts the chemical energy of small organic molecules to electrical power, and working with natural enzymes to produce electrical power from sugars. In hydrogen generation research, the objective is to efficiently generate hydrogen gas from bio-ethanol and natural gases by synthesizing novel nanoparticle catalysts for use in hydrogen fuel cells. If they can become viable and less costly, hydrogen fuel cells could be hugely more efficient than internal combustion engines for cars, and the only waste product is water. In liquid organic fuel cell research, my research group has been developing fuel cells that produce electrical power from the simple organic molecules, creating a prototype which successfully ran a cell phone. Using these simple liquid organic molecules allows for developing portable fuel cells that permit the people to use laptops for days rather than hours without being connected to ac power. My group is also working to use natural enzymes to catalyze reactions to get energy from natural fuel, such as glucose. The enzymes are collected and immobilized on tiny carbon nanotubes which produce an electric power. By using enzymes at the nano-scale, my group hopes to increase efficiency and reduce the costs of producing energy. Finally, my group applies Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technique to investigate the mass transport behaviors of water and fuel in a working PEM fuel cell.

  • Developing coke resistant, sulfur tolerant and efficient cobalt and molybdenum based reforming catalysts for hydrogen production.
  • Developing efficient and cost effective catalysts for low temperature fuel cells.
  • Developing high performing and stable nanobiocatalysts by immobilizing enzymes on various nanomaterials including carbon nanotube (CNT).
  • Applying Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technique to perform in-situ performance diagnosis of fuel cells

Biographical Information

Dr. Ha received degrees in chemical engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in 2005. He was appointed an assistant professor in the School of Chemical and Bioengineering at Washington State University in 2005.

Selected Publications

  1. Ha, S.; Dunbar, Z.; Masel, R. I. Characterization of High Performing Passive Direct Formic Acid Fuel Cell. Accepted in Journal of Power Sources (Fall 2005).
  2. Larsen, R.; Ha, S.; Zakzeski, J.;Masel, R. I. Unusually active palladium based catalysts for the electrooxidation of formic acid. Accepted in Journal of Power Sources (Fall 2005).
  3. Ha, S.; Dunbar, Z.; Masel, R. I. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Microscopy of Operating Direct Formic Acid Fuel Cell. Proceedings of the ACS National Meeting (2005), 230th.
  4. Ha, S.; Larsen, R.; Zhu, Y.; Masel, R. I. Direct formic acid fuel cells with 600 mA/cm2 at 0.4 V and 22 oC. Fuel Cells (2004), 4(4), 337-343.
  5. Ha, S.; Adams, B.; Masel, R. A Miniature Air Breathing Direct Formic Acid Fuel Cell. Journal of Power Sources (2004), 128(2), 119-124.
  6. Zhu, Yimin; Ha, Su Y.; Masel, Richard I. High power density direct formic acid fuel cells. Journal of Power Sources (2004), 130(1-2), 8-14.
  7. Ha, S.; Larsen, R.; Masel, R. I. Performance characterization of Pd/C nanocatalyst for direct formic acid fuel cells. Manuscript in preparation.
  8. Rhee, Young-Woo; Ha, Su Y.; Masel, R. Crossover of formic acid through Nafion membranes. Journal of Power Sources (2003), 117(1-2), 35-38.
  9. Rice, C.; Ha, S.; Masel, R. I.; Wieckowski, A. Catalysts for direct formic acid fuel cells. Journal of Power Sources (2003), 115(2), 229-235.
  10. Ha, Su; Rice, Cynthia A.; Masel, Richard I.; Wieckowski, Andrzej. Methanol conditioning for improved performance of formic acid fuel cells. Journal of Power Sources (2002), 112(2), 655-659.
  11. Rice, C.; Ha, S.; Masel, R. I.; Waszczuk, P.; Wieckowski, A.; Barnard, Tom. Direct formic acid fuel cells. Journal of Power Sources (2002), 111(1), 83-89.
  12. Rice, C.; Ha, S.; Masel, R. I.; Waszczuk, P.; Wieckowski, A. Characteristics of formic acid fuel cells. Proceedings of the Power Sources Conference (2002), 40th 254-257.
  13. Burke, Matthew D.; Ha, Su Y.; Pysz, Marybeth A.; Khan, Saad A. Rheology of protein gels synthesized through a combined enzymatic and heat treatment method. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules (2002), 31(1-3), 37-44.
  14. Burke, Matthew D.; Ha, Su Y.; Khan, Saad A. Tailored whey protein gels through combined enzymic crosslinking and heat treatment. International Food Science Conference at Zurich, 2000.

The Gene & Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, PO Box 642710, Washington State University, Pullman WA 99164-2710, 509-335-4332, Email ChEBE: chebe AT wsu DOT edu