fuel cell catalyst Archives – The Green Optimistic

New Non-Metallic Catalyst Outperforms Platinum in Fuel Cells

Benji Jerew — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 19:21:35 +0000

Research into hydrogen fuel cells has been focusing lately on reducing their cost, in the tens of thousands of dollars. For a while now, the accepted best-performing catalyst, both in terms of efficiency and lifespan, has been platinum. Unfortunately, platinum is more expensive than gold, due to its rarity. The current General Motors hydrogen fuel […]

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Formic Acid Charges Mobile Devices Through Novel Fuel Cell

Mila Luleva — Wed, 29 May 2013 12:51:30 +0000

New catalyst, developed by a researcher from Umeå University in Sweden, increases the power and lifetime of formic acid fuel cells, allowing environmentally friendly way to charge a mobile device. Florian Nitze came up with the technology as part of his thesis in physics. The engineered catalyst is based on a combination of material science and […]

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Iron-Based Fuel Cell Catalyst to Make Hydrogen Cars Cheap

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 19:07:40 +0000

An efficient iron-based fuel cell catalyst has been discovered by PNNL scientists. It uses a hydrogenase molecule to split hydrogen and create electricity. For years, scientists have been playing around with various alternatives to platinum, an expensive catalyst used in hydrogen fuel cells today to create electricity directly from hydrogen. Fortunately, platinum has the intrinsic […]

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Cobalt – Graphene Catalyst Might Replace Platinum in Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Mila Luleva — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 08:08:20 +0000

Platinum is undoubtedly quite an expensive element to use as a catalyst in hydrogen fuel cells. For that reason, scientists at Brown University are trying to find a cheaper material that can act in this same way and be just as effective. Shouheng Sun and a group of his students developed a catalyst for the […]

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Scientists Discovering Why Nanoporous Gold Can Be a Good Fuel Cell Catalyst

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 15:11:39 +0000

An international team of scientists have made a breakthrough discovery by realizing why nanoporous gold (NPG) has a high catalytic activity and can be used for making fuel cells and durable catalytic converters, as opposed to bulk gold, which is inert. The team, comprising of Dr. Keith McKenna, from the University of York and other […]

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New Iron Catalyst Modeled from Nature Developed for Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Maria Reyes — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 16:01:47 +0000

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is using nature to model a more efficient catalyst for hydrogen fuel cells. The new catalyst uses an iron center with molecular chains composed of nitrogen atoms that can extract electrons from hydrogen atoms. This can potentially replace the expensive commercial platinum catalyst, which can lead to the production of […]

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Catalothermionic Generator: A New Blend of Solar and Fuel Cell Nanotechnology Produces Electricity

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 11:59:48 +0000

...it's like hydrogen and the Sun are related in a way... the star's energy comes from burnt hydrogen, on one hand, and on the other, here on Earth, solar cells are the best means of generating hydrogen out of water and have it used as an energy source. There's an interesting symmetry between the two.

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Scientists Use Palladium as Core to New Hydrogen Fuel Cell-Improving Nanoparticle

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:18:49 +0000

Hydrogen fuel cells generate electricity when fed with hydrogen, which combines with oxygen and results water. Still, hydrogen fuel cells are expensive due to the catalyst used in the cathode for the reaction known as oxygen reduction. That catalyst is 100% pure platinum, which is a rare and expensive material.

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Reducing Platinum and Adding Gold: Three Inventions That Increase Fuel Cell Efficiency and Decrease Price

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 20 May 2010 19:05:05 +0000

Fuel cells are indispensable for hydrogen powered cars, and it looks like hydrogen may be the ultimate energy storage that meets all the demands of a clean "fuel" (though it's only a carrier, not a fuel). Fuel cells, are expensive, though, and their price is due to platinum, which is a rare metal.

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French Nickel Catalyst Promises Cheaper Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Ovidiu Sandru — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:02:09 +0000

A group of researchers from France revealed some tests in this week's issue of the journal Science that shows how platinum can be substituted with nickel, by mimicking the process going on in anaerobic-living algae. These have an enzyme, called hydrogenase, and use it to metabolize hydrogen.

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New Palladium Nanoparticles Making Fuel Cells Better

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:30:10 +0000

Nowadays, the cost of a hydrogen fuel cell is mostly increased by the cost of its components, and mostly by platinum. In the search for finding better materials for making fuel cells, researchers have already found alternatives to the expensive platinum a long time ago, but they were not as efficient. One of this substitute materials is palladium - far cheaper and much more abundant, but that didn't have enough surface area to make the fuel cell catalysis efficient.

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New Catalyst Makes Ethanol Fuel Cells Feasible at Room Temperatures

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:28:22 +0000

I don't know the solution to the perfect energy equation, but as long as we're producing CO2 it's not the final one. Anyway, until a new and better method is found to be feasible enough, this is a good one, too.

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