Skip to main content

FUEL CELLS DEVELOPMENT WITH NANOTECHNOLOGY


Fuel cells are energy conversion systems that converts chemical energy on fuels directly into electric energy. This is achieved by oxidation-reduction (redox) reaction rather than combustion reaction which is used in the conventional methods for electric energy production. Hydrogen and alcohols such as methanol are the type of fuels that are used in fuel cells. Fuel cells are considered the 21st century technology for the production of electric energy. This is due to its high efficiency, low emission, safety, and silence. However, issues include cost, durability, and conversion efficiency are among the reasons for not using fuel cells in daily applications.
Nanotechnology and nanomaterials introduce solutions for the fuel cells issues that could make them one of the best method for the electric energy production in the near future. The solutions embrace the introduction of new materials and catalysts that increase the conversion efficiency of fuels, increase the durability, and decrease the cost.
One of the most important problems that fuel cells face is the slow electro-oxidation of the fuels used. The solution to this problem is the usage of the catalysts which increase the speed of the reaction without being consumed during the reaction. The kinds of catalysts that are used in the redox reactions in fuel cells are carbon supported noble metallic catalysts. The introduction of the carbon supported metallic nanoparticle catalysts such as Platinum Nanoparticles, Ruthenium Nanoparticles, Palladium Nanoparticles, and others showed excellent results in increasing the activity of the reactions and reducing the cost by decreasing the amount of metals used. Furthermore, the usage of carbon nanomaterials as the catalysts support displayed higher activity, applicability, stability, and efficiency results. These carbon nanomaterials include Carbon Nanotubes, Functional Carbon Nanotubes, and Graphene. The improvement in the results is due to the excellent properties of these nanomaterials such as high surface area, outstanding conductivity, and strength.
Continuous research and development is been done to develop new catalysts that exclude the expensive metals. Others are done to change the design and reduce the size to replace batteries. All these research are base in nanotechnology applications and in the usage of nanomaterials in the fuel cells compartments.

http://nanografi.com/blog/fuel-cells-development-with-nanotechnology/
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Titanium Carbide Powders and Applications

Titanium carbide which has the chemical formula of TiC attracted great interest for many structural applications due to its extremely high melting temperature, high hardness, high chemical resistance and good electrical conductivity. Therefore titanium carbide can be used in cutting tools, grinding wheels, wear-resistant coatings, high temperature heat exchangers, magnetic recording heads, turbine engine seals, and bullet-proof vests, etc. In addition, a promising field of application comprises plasma and flame spraying processes in air, where titanium carbide-based powders show high-phase stability. TiC(Titanium Carbide Powder) (325 mesh, 99,9+%)  can also be used in biomedical implant devices. Materials used for biomedical implant devices must satisfy a variety of property demands, which are often mutually exclusive. Further, different parts of a device demand different material properties. These factors often make it difficult to manufacture a medical device using a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hydroxyapatite Nanopowders and Their Applications

Hydroxyapatite, is a naturally occurring mineral form of calcium apatite with the formula Ca 5 (PO 4 ) 3 (OH). Pure hydroxyapatite powder is white. Naturally occurring apatites can, however, also have brown, yellow, or green colorations, comparable to the discolorations of dental fluorosis. Hydroxyapatite Nanopowder/Nanoparticles (50 nm, 99.95+%)  has been widely used as a biocompatible ceramic in many areas of medicine, but mainly for contact with bone tissue, due to its resemblance to mineral bone. In mammals, the skeleton presents a carbonated and partially substituted apatite, based on nanocrystal aggregates, and associated with collagen, building up 3-D structures present in various bone tissue conformations like trabecular or cancellous bone. There has been growing interest in developing bioactive synthetic ceramics that could closely mimic natural apatite characteristics. As mentioned before,  Hydroxyapatite Nanopowder  is the main inorganic constituent of bon...
Post a Comment
Read more

New Way of Deaf-Mute Communication with 3D Graphene

Image retrieved from: http://blogs.rsc.org/cc/2016/09/01/3d-graphene-adds-dimension-to-deaf%E2%80%93mute-communication/ Chinese scientists have developed wearable electronic device with conductive 3D graphene structure to translate sign language into written text. This technology can be applied by injecting graphene ink from a syringe under printed electronic field. For medical field, such as adhesive patches which determine heart, brain signal and neural activity, wearable and bio-integrated medical devices are very important. Due to noticeable properties of cast graphene, for example a 2D honeycomb lattice, excellent mechanical and electrical behaviors, Graphene has an important material in warble technology. However, it is difficult to preserve advantages of Graphene material in a 3D material which has an information about forces from every angle. Yanlin Song  and co-workers at the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, and Shenyang Jianzhu University...
Post a Comment
Read more