24 August 2026

National Central University’s Green Energy Team Wins the Interdisciplinary Overall Championship

Integrating Ammonia Energy, Fuel Cells, and Digital Twin Technologies to Demonstrate Interdisciplinary Innovation in Net-Zero Energy

National Central University’s green energy research team distinguished itself in an international competition with its innovative ammonia-based power generation technology, winning the interdisciplinary overall championship. By integrating advanced technologies in ammonia energy, fuel cells, and digital twins, the team developed a comprehensive solution spanning materials research and energy system integration, demonstrating NCU’s interdisciplinary research capabilities in green energy and net-zero technologies.

The award-winning project focuses on ammonia as an energy carrier and on low-carbon power generation. It integrates high-entropy catalysts, a Compact Ammonia Cracker, proton-conducting solid oxide fuel cells (P-SOFCs), and Digital Twin technology. Together, these components form a complete ammonia-to-power technology chain—from hydrogen production through ammonia cracking and fuel-cell power generation to system simulation and optimization—highlighting the potential of ammonia energy for future distributed energy systems and the transition to net-zero emissions.

Beginning with the development of key materials, the team created non-precious-metal high-entropy catalysts and further extended its research to structured catalysts and practical ammonia-cracking equipment. Its independently designed Compact Ammonia Cracker integrates preheating, heating, and catalytic reactions into a single system, facilitating the development of compact, modular equipment with highly efficient thermal management. The resulting hydrogen-rich gas is then supplied to P-SOFCs for electricity generation, forming a complete ammonia-to-power system.

In addition to materials and hardware technologies, the team introduced a Digital Twin platform that integrates catalyst experimental data, ammonia-cracker models, and fuel-cell power generation models. This platform enables the rapid evaluation of various operating conditions and system configurations, reduces the need for extensive physical testing, and accelerates system design and optimization. Based on the team’s current carbon-emissions assessment, under the specified operating conditions and energy-source assumptions, the system can reduce carbon emissions by approximately 75% compared with electricity generated by Taiwan’s power grid. These findings demonstrate the potential of combining ammonia energy with high-efficiency fuel cells to provide low-carbon electricity and strengthen energy resilience.

This research was completed through collaboration among an interdisciplinary and international team whose expertise encompasses materials science, ammonia and hydrogen energy, fuel cells, reactor design, and digital simulation. The faculty advisors include Professor Wei-Hsuan Hung of NCU’s Graduate Institute of Materials Science and Engineering and Graduate College of Sustainability and Green Energy; Professor Sheng-Wei Lee of the Graduate Institute of Materials Science and Engineering; Professor Wei-Chun Wang of the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering; Professor Tsun-Hsiung Kung of the Department of Electrical Engineering, the Undergraduate Program of the College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and the International Master’s Program in Artificial Intelligence; and Dr. Chih-Lung Tsai of Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany.

Winning the interdisciplinary overall championship not only underscores National Central University’s research strengths in ammonia and hydrogen energy, fuel cells, and digitalized energy systems, but also demonstrates the team’s potential to translate pioneering research into practical energy applications. Moving forward, the team will continue advancing system integration, efficiency improvements, and field validation, bringing innovative technologies from the laboratory into industrial applications and opening new technological pathways for Taiwan’s development of low-carbon, distributed, and highly resilient green energy systems.