Cryo-imaging lifts the lid on fuel cell catalyst layers

First insights into the nanostructure of platinum catalyst layers

27-Apr-2023 - Thanks to a novel combination of cryogenic transmission electron tomography and deep learning, EPFL researchers have provided a first look at the nanostructure of platinum catalyst layers, revealing how they could be optimized for fuel cell efficiency. Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), ...

Water distribution in the fuel cell made visible in 4D

The analysis opens new possibilities for more efficient and thus more cost-effective fuel cells

09-Jun-2022 - Teams from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and University College London (UCL) have visualised the water distribution in a fuel cell in three dimensions and in real time for the first time by evaluating neutron data from the Berlin Experimental Reactor shut down in 2019. The analysis opens new ...

Detective work on the fuel cell

Researchers are investigating new materials that can be used to reduce the operation temperature of solid oxide fuel cells: To do so, they apply an innovative method

02-Dec-2021 - Solid oxide fuel cells consist of three important parts: an anode, a cathode and an electrolyte. While oxygen is incorporated into the cathode, oxygen is then transported through the electrolyte to the anode, where oxygen reacts with hydrogen to water. The fuel cell is able to convert the energy ...

New study reveals first fundamental insights into ion transport mechanisms

Results may contribute to the future development of more efficient battery types

08-Oct-2020 - Ionic conductors transport electric current. One simple application of this process is the common battery which uses a salt bridge to connect two electrolyte solutions. Conductors are also used in other forms of electrochemical energy storage for example when ions pass from one electrode to ...

Making enzymes fit for industrial applications

Biobased process for ammonia production

27-Aug-2020 - Bacterial enzymes are often powerful but also very sensitive catalysts. To call up their performance, they therefore need a special environment. Researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) have developed new techniques for efficiently coupling bacterial enzymes to electrodes. Together with a ...

Microorganisms build the best fuel efficient hydrogen cells

21-Aug-2019 - For all the advances technology has made throughout our lives, in many cases it stands behind what nature can do. Ants can carry 5000 times their weight, and spider webs are five times stronger than steel. Fuel efficiency is no different. In a new study seen in Angewandte Chemie International ...

Nano-scale process may speed arrival of cheaper hi-tech products

12-Nov-2018 - An inexpensive way to make products incorporating nanoparticles - such as high-performance energy devices or sophisticated diagnostic tests - has been developed by researchers. The process could speed the commercial development of devices, materials and technologies that exploit the physical ...

New test opens path for better 2-D catalysts

09-Oct-2017 - Rice University researchers have taken a deep look into atom-thick catalysts that produce hydrogen to see precisely where it's coming from. Their findings could accelerate the development of 2-D materials for energy applications, such as fuel cells. The Rice lab of materials scientist Jun Lou, ...

Tiny probe could produce big improvements in batteries and fuel cells

02-Jun-2016 - A team of American and Chinese researchers has developed a new tool that could aid in the quest for better batteries and fuel cells. Although battery technology has come a long way since Alessandro Volta first stacked metal discs in a "voltaic pile" to generate electricity, major improvements are ...

Graphene membrane could lead to better fuel cells, water filters

19-Mar-2015 - An atomically thin membrane with microscopically small holes may prove to be the basis for future hydrogen fuel cells, water filtering and desalination membranes, according to a group of 15 theorists and experimentalists, including three theoretical researchers from Penn State.The team, led by ...