Home > Press > Move Over Platinum; University of Dayton Researcher Finds a Cheaper Way to Make Longer-Lasting Fuel Cells
Abstract:
Liming Dai, the University of Dayton's Wright Brothers Institute endowed chair in nanomaterials, and fellow scientists have taken a step toward a more efficient fuel cell that can be affordably mass-produced. They found that carbon nanotubes containing nitrogen are cheaper and work better than platinum in providing long-term fuel cell power. Science Magazine published the findings last week.
Move Over Platinum; University of Dayton Researcher Finds a Cheaper Way to Make Longer-Lasting Fuel Cells
DAYTON, OH | Posted on February 10th, 2009
Fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen to electrical power and water with no air pollution, hazardous waste or noise.
"Traditionally, fuel cells employ expensive platinum-based electrocatalysts, which cost about $4,000 for a passenger car," Dai said. "The goal is to reduce the major cost of a fuel cell in order to compete with current market technologies, including gasoline engines. Our finding is a major breakthrough toward commercialization of fuel cell technology for various applications."
Dai said those applications could someday include electric and hybrid vehicles, submarines that could operate silently underwater for weeks, airplanes powered by only a fuel cell and lightweight batteries, power plants, notebook computers, portable charging docks for electronics, and power-hogging smart phones with large displays and elaborate features like GPS.
"The importance of developing new types of energy is evident from the fact that global energy consumption has been accelerating at an alarming rate due to rapid economic expansion worldwide, increase in world population and ever-increasing human reliance on energy-based appliances," Dai said. "As we become more aware of 'greenhouse gases' and their detrimental effects on our planet, clean and renewable energy alternatives like fuel cells become more important than ever."
Dai also believes the role of nitrogen-doping, or adding nitrogen to carbon nanotubes, could be applied to the development of new materials for applications beyond fuel cells.
Michael Durstock in the Air Force Research Laboratory's Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Zhenhai Xia in the University of Akron department of mechanical engineering, and Kuanping Gong and Feng Du in the University of Dayton departments of chemical and materials engineering contributed to the report. Dai also has joint appointment in the University of Dayton's chemistry department, the University of Dayton Research Institute and the Institute for Development Commercialization of Advanced Sensor Technology.
Dai has been a co-author of two Science articles since last October.
####
For more information, please click here
Copyright © PR Newswire Association LLC.
If you have a comment, please
Contact us.
Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.
Bookmark:
News and information
Nano-needles for cells May 25th, 2013
How do cold ions slide May 24th, 2013
Gold nanocrystal vibration captured on billion-frames-per-second film May 23rd, 2013
Glowing Plant Releases Maker Kit, Enabling Anyone to Make a Glowing Plant at Home: Glowing Plant seeks funds via crowdfunding and raises almost $400,000 May 23rd, 2013
Discoveries
Nano-needles for cells May 25th, 2013
How do cold ions slide May 24th, 2013
Gold nanocrystal vibration captured on billion-frames-per-second film May 23rd, 2013
Atomic-Scale Investigations Solve Key Puzzle of LED Efficiency: MIT and Brookhaven Lab scientists use electron microscopy imaging techniques to settle a solid-state controversy and raise new experimental possibilities May 22nd, 2013
Announcements
Nano-needles for cells May 25th, 2013
How do cold ions slide May 24th, 2013
Gold nanocrystal vibration captured on billion-frames-per-second film May 23rd, 2013
Glowing Plant Releases Maker Kit, Enabling Anyone to Make a Glowing Plant at Home: Glowing Plant seeks funds via crowdfunding and raises almost $400,000 May 23rd, 2013
Energy
IDTechEx launches online Market Intelligence Portal May 23rd, 2013
Innovation could bring flexible solar cells, transistors, displays May 22nd, 2013
Researchers Stitch Defects into the World’s Thinnest Semiconductor May 22nd, 2013
Atomic-Scale Investigations Solve Key Puzzle of LED Efficiency: MIT and Brookhaven Lab scientists use electron microscopy imaging techniques to settle a solid-state controversy and raise new experimental possibilities May 22nd, 2013
Fuel Cells
Researchers develop unique method for creating uniform nanoparticles May 6th, 2013
Surface diffusion plays a key role in defining the shapes of catalytic nanoparticles April 8th, 2013
Nanoparticles Combined with Light Reverses Rusting April 1st, 2013
Hydrogen stores wind and solar energy: Innovative "Power-to-Gas" concepts at Hannover Messe March 7th, 2013