New Aerogel Fuel Cell Could Boasts The Efficiency of Conventional Fuel Cells By 5 Times |
Typically a fuel cell works by combining oxygen with hydrogen in a chemical bonding process that creates free electrons to power the vehicle, and leaves water coming out of the tail pipe as the only waste material. As this reaction takes place very slowly under normal conditions, catalysts are needed to speed up the conversion process. In these conventional cells, the catalyst is made of a rare metal such as platinum. On top of being scarce and expensive, this catalytic material also needs to be built on top of a high surface area carbon, which is corrosive and can shorten the lifespan of the fuel cell.
An international team of researchers at PSI and Dresden University overcame these obstacles by replacing the carbon with a three dimensional aerogel block made of a platinum palladium alloy. The scientists discovered that the new material increased the efficiency of a regular fuel cell by five times. This means that the same amount of oxygen can now be converted with only a fifth of the amount of precious metals. This opens up the possibility of creating a new fuel cell using just one-fifth of the the necessary platinum – reducing the costs and environmental impact of the fuel cell.
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RC - Thursday, August 15, 2013
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