| Services |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Channels |
| Home & Family |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Leisure |
|
|
|
|
| Technology |
|
|
|
|
|
| Business |
|
|
|
|
| Science |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Site Search  |
|
|
|
|
| Free email |
|
|
|
|
 |
Less expensive fuel cell may be possible |
| Theallineed.com |
(NC&T/LANL) In research published recently in the scientific journal Nature, Los Alamos scientists Rajesh Bashyam and Piotr Zelenay describe tests conducted on a cobalt-polypyrrole-carbon (Co-PPY-XC72) composite. The composite, consisting of cobalt, polymer and carbon, was developed in research aimed at developing low-cost non-platinum catalysts for the polymer electrolyte fuel-cell (PEFC) cathode. While the electrical energy producing activity of the catalyst is lower than that of platinum-based catalysts used in polymer electrolyte fuel cells, the new material shows exceptional performance stability for over one hundred hours of continuous testing, a result never before obtained with non-precious metal catalysts in PEFCs.
"Besides being made of inexpensive and environmentally benign materials," said Zelenay, "the chief advantage of these composite catalysts for oxygen reduction is that they can operate in the acidic environment of the polymer electrolyte fuel cell."
Bashyam and Zelenay are investigating the nature of catalysts in a variety of composites. They are also part of a larger Laboratory effort aimed at developing new catalyst and electrode structures that could increase the current output from fuel cells.
According to Ken Stroh, program manager for the Los Alamos fuel-cell effort, "The two biggest obstacles in making a commercially viable fuel cell have traditionally been high cost and inadequate durability. Our focus at Los Alamos is to attack those obstacles as a system in which you simultaneously strive for lower costs and higher durability."
![]()
The United States Department of Energy's Office of Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Infrastructure Technologies funds much of the PEFC fuel cell research at Los Alamos.
|
| About the Author |
©2006 All rights reserved
|
|
|
| Quotes | A smart man covers his butt, a wise man simply leaves his pants on.
C.D. Bailey
History, here I come!
Edmund Blackadder
How many frickin times do I have to say, In the form of a question, people?!?
Alex Trebek
|
| Writers | | If you are a writer and want to see your article published at Theallineed.com, just click here to submit. |
|
Nepal's human rights commission has made great strides, says UN official
Implementing New Technology