Hybrid vehicles are more reliable and cheaper thanks to an innovative fuel cell

A material used in sports and hiking clothing is a plastic material with high conductivity in the fuel cell and improves its efficiency

Scientists from Monash University in Australia have revolutionized the design of the fuel cells used in the latest generation of hybrid vehicles, a revolution that could make the vehicles more reliable and cheaper to manufacture.

The breakthrough, which was published on August 1 in the prestigious journal Science, is based on a new design of the fuel cell in which a unique coating of the revolutionary textile material Goretex, used in sports and hiking clothing, is the key component. The team of scientists designed and tested an air-electrode, where a thin layer 0.4 microns thick (about a hundred times thinner than a human hair) of a highly conductive plastic material is fixed on the surface of the "breathing" fabric. The conductive plastic serves as both the fuel cell electrode and the catalyst.

Dr. Bjorn Winther-Jensen from the university says that just as the Goretex material brought about a revolution in the clothing industry, so it will be able to do the same in the automobile industry.

"In the same way that waste materials evaporate out of this material to allow travelers extra comfort and reduced exposure to hypothermia, so it allows oxygen to be transferred into the fuel cell and bring it into contact with the conductive plastic layer," says the researcher.

Another researcher in the field claims that this discovery is, apparently, the most important development in fuel cell technologies in the last two decades. "The advantages for the automotive industry and drivers lie in the fact that the new design eliminates the need for platinum, which is used as a catalyst and is today a central component in all known production methods," says the researcher.

"Our reliance on platinum, the precious metal, makes the prospect of using fuel cells in everyday vehicles increasingly unlikely. "The cost of the platinum component alone in existing fuel cells, for small vehicles with an electric engine with a power of one hundred kilowatts, is higher than the total cost of a gasoline engine with the same power. Also, the annual global production of platinum is only enough for about three million vehicles of this capacity, less than a fifth of the amount of new vehicles that hit the road every year." The new fuel cell was tested for continuous operation for 1500 hours using hydrogen as the sole source of energy.

Professor Maria Forsyth notes that examination of the cell showed no sign of the material breaking down or reducing its effectiveness. The tests also confirmed that the oxygen production rate is comparable to that of platinum-based electrodes with the same geometry and that the new electrodes are not "poisoned" by carbon monoxide as is the case with platinum.

"The small amounts of carbon monoxide, which are always present in the exhaust pipes of gasoline engines, are a real problem for fuel cells because the platinum catalyst undergoes a slow "poisoning" that eventually leads to the destruction of the entire cell," says the researcher.

"The important point is that the team came up with an alternative design for the fuel cell that is more economical, simpler, longer lasting than the platinum cells and just as efficient."

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