A Boost for Hydrogen Fuel Cell Research Date: Thursday, January 25, 2007 @ 22:49:04 UTC Topic: Science
The development of hydrogen fuel cells for vehicles, the
ultimate green dream in transportation energy, is another step closer.
Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory have identified a
new variation of a familiar platinum-nickel alloy that is far and away
the most active oxygen-reducing catalyst ever reported.
The slow rate of oxygen-reduction catalysis on the
cathode – a fuel cell's positively charged electrode - has been a
primary factor hindering development of the polymer electrolyte
membrane (PEM) fuel cells favored for use in vehicles powered by
hydrogen.
"The existing limitations facing PEM fuel cell
technology applications in the transportation sector could be
eliminated with the development of stable cathode catalysts with
several orders of magnitude increase in activity over today's
state-of-the-art catalysts, and that is what our discovery has the
potential to provide," said Vojislav Stamenkovic, a scientist with dual
appointments in the Materials Sciences Division of both Berkeley Lab
and Argonne.
The development of hydrogen fuel cells for vehicles, the
ultimate green dream in transportation energy, is another step closer.
Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory have identified a
new variation of a familiar platinum-nickel alloy that is far and away
the most active oxygen-reducing catalyst ever reported.