Energy consumption is anticipated to be doubled by 2050, hence, energy conversion and storage
research has become the utmost importance for meeting the energy demand for the future. In
addition, the increase of CO2 emission and depletion of fossil fuels have engendered the need for
the sustainable energy technologies. Hydrogen, being one of the readily available carriers of
energy. This has established polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) as a key
technology to meet the future energy demand, wherein hydrogen is used as a fuel and converts
chemical energy into electrical energy with zero-emission. Nevertheless, the cost of Pt
electrocatalyst and the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) kinetics at the cathode of
PEMFC are the main prohibitive factor for its commercialization. The present talk briefs the
development of low Platinum based and nonprecious electrocatalysts to overcome these
challenges and demonstrates the catalytic activity by electrochemical testing using half-cell and
single cell PEMFC measurements. Along with energy conversion devices, energy storage has
also become the need of the hour. Rechargeable Lithium-based batteries (Lithium-ion and
Lithium-sulfur) are the two most important technologies that have already attracted attention in
different technological sectors. However, for Li-ion batteries, the main drawbacks are the low
capacity and fading of batteries. To circumvent the above issues in Li-ion batteries, in the present
work, selective electrode materials have been developed by novel techniques and used to show
the enhanced capacity and cyclic life. Though Li-S batteries have 5 times higher energy than Liion battery and highly cost effective due to use of sulfur-based cathode, the main issues remain
as the low utilization of sulfur and shuttling of polysulfides leading to self-discharge. Hence in
this work, high surface area carbon nanostructures-sulfur composite cathode and polar interlayer
have been proposed to minimize the polysulfide dissolution to enhance the performance of Li-S
battery. This development of energy conversion and energy storage can play an important role to
replace the existing non-renewable technologies in the near future.