Home > Press > A protecting umbrella against oxygen: Toward fuel cells built from renewable and abundant components - Scientists from Bochum und Mülheim report in NATURE Chemistry
Redox hydrogel works like a protective umbrella against oxygen.
© RESOLV |
Abstract:
In the development of fuel cells the effort of generations of scientist and engineers have led to efficient and stable catalysts based on noble metals. These catalysts have reached the required threshold in terms of performance for applications such as electric cars. However, the high costs of the scarce noble metals render their widespread application economically less viable. In a paper published this week in the journal Nature Chemistry, researchers from the Center for Electrochemical Sciences - CES at the Ruhr-University Bochum and from the Max-Planck-Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion in Mülheim an der Ruhr report a novel concept to work with efficient and possibly cheaper catalysts. A kind of buffer protects the catalysts against the hostile conditions encountered in fuel cells, which have been to date dismissed utilization. The scientists report in the current issue of NATURE Chemistry.
Hydrogenases, an alternative to platinum?
Bio-catalysts for hydrogen oxidation - so called hydrogenases - are also part of nature. They developed just by using elements available to living organisms, that means without any noble metals. Complex hydrogenases evolved based solely on abundant elements such as nickel and iron. The most efficient hydrogenases reach the turnover rate of platinum and the supply of the elements they consist of is virtually unlimited. "For this reason Hydrogenases are potentially interesting alternatives to noble metals", says Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schuhmann (Professorship for analytical chemistry at the RUB). Though hydrogenases are not able to work while being under the constraints encountered in a fuel cell. Traces of oxygen and extreme electrical potentials cause deactivation processes.
Redox hydrogel, a shield for efficient but sensitive catalysts
The team in Bochum and Mülheim focused nevertheless on a new strategy to accommodate sensitive catalyst to the working conditions of standard fuel cells. The key idea is to shield the catalyst in a protective matrix with properties specifically designed to prevent the deactivation processes. Instead of contacting the hydrogenase directly to the electrode, an immobilization in a redox hydrogel shall protect the construct. It is designed to serve both as a redox buffer and an oxygen scavenger. Hence, within the hydrogel film, neither high potential, nor oxygen affects the bio-catalyst. Under working conditions the hydrogel-modified fuel cell is able to convert chemical energy from hydrogen into electrical energy over several weeks, while in absence of the hydrogel, the hydrogenase is deactivated within seconds.
A major step toward a novel fuel cell redesign
"The hydrogel concept opens the possibility to integrate a variety of other sensitive biological or artificial catalyst for which the intrinsic stability cannot be further increased", says Prof. Wolfgang Lubitz, Director at the MPI CEC. "This is a major step toward a novel fuel cell redesign, which may reposition them at the forefront in the race toward global sustainable energy industry."
Funding
The project was funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) as part of the Cluster of Excellence RESOLV - Ruhr explores solvation (EXC 1069).
####
For more information, please click here
Contacts:
Wolfgang Schuhmann
49-234-322-6200
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schuhmann, Lehrstuhl für Analytische Chemie der Ruhr-Universität, 44780 Bochum, Tel. 0234/32-26200
http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/solvation/
Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Wolfgang Lubitz, Direktor am Max-Planck-Institut für Chemische Energiekonversion in Mülheim an der Ruhr, 0208/306-3614
http://www.cec.mpg.de
Copyright © Ruhr-University Bochum
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.
Related News Press |
News and information
Simulating magnetization in a Heisenberg quantum spin chain April 5th, 2024
NRL charters Navy’s quantum inertial navigation path to reduce drift April 5th, 2024
Discovery points path to flash-like memory for storing qubits: Rice find could hasten development of nonvolatile quantum memory April 5th, 2024
Chemistry
What heat can tell us about battery chemistry: using the Peltier effect to study lithium-ion cells March 8th, 2024
Nanoscale CL thermometry with lanthanide-doped heavy-metal oxide in TEM March 8th, 2024
Govt.-Legislation/Regulation/Funding/Policy
NRL charters Navy’s quantum inertial navigation path to reduce drift April 5th, 2024
Discovery points path to flash-like memory for storing qubits: Rice find could hasten development of nonvolatile quantum memory April 5th, 2024
Chemical reactions can scramble quantum information as well as black holes April 5th, 2024
Discoveries
Chemical reactions can scramble quantum information as well as black holes April 5th, 2024
New micromaterial releases nanoparticles that selectively destroy cancer cells April 5th, 2024
Utilizing palladium for addressing contact issues of buried oxide thin film transistors April 5th, 2024
Materials/Metamaterials/Magnetoresistance
Nanoscale CL thermometry with lanthanide-doped heavy-metal oxide in TEM March 8th, 2024
Focused ion beam technology: A single tool for a wide range of applications January 12th, 2024
Announcements
NRL charters Navy’s quantum inertial navigation path to reduce drift April 5th, 2024
Discovery points path to flash-like memory for storing qubits: Rice find could hasten development of nonvolatile quantum memory April 5th, 2024
Interviews/Book Reviews/Essays/Reports/Podcasts/Journals/White papers/Posters
Simulating magnetization in a Heisenberg quantum spin chain April 5th, 2024
Discovery points path to flash-like memory for storing qubits: Rice find could hasten development of nonvolatile quantum memory April 5th, 2024
Automotive/Transportation
Researchers’ approach may protect quantum computers from attacks March 8th, 2024
Tests find no free-standing nanotubes released from tire tread wear September 8th, 2023
The latest news from around the world, FREE | ||
Premium Products | ||
Only the news you want to read!
Learn More |
||
Full-service, expert consulting
Learn More |
||