Nanotech brings down cost of fuel cell

摘要

Fuel cells have been ready for commercialisation for years, albeit only for use with pure hydrogen-easy to purchase for the lab, but expensive to mass produce. Even the best fuel cell designs become poisoned by impurities in hydrogen derived from natural gas - the most abundant source - caus-ing them to fail prematurely. Now Cornell Univer-sity scientists working for the U.S. Department of Energy believe they have a cure using nanotechnology that could make hydrogen fuel cells commercially viable. The scientists discovered the cure after analysing the problem - carbon-mon-oxide poisoning. Fuel cells electrochemically de-compose hydrogen fuel, stripping off its electrons by bonding it with oxygen to form water vapour-its only emission. However, the platinum/ruthenium-alloy catalyst used for the anode in traditional PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cells is not only.