Scientists have created a new membrane for powerful fuel cells. This was reported by Japan’s Nagoya University.
One of the promising areas of hydrogen energy is fuel cells. Fuel (hydrogen or conventional fuel) in them does not burn, but undergoes a chemical reaction with the release of current. The efficiency of such systems is higher than internal combustion engines, but they do not have specific power.
Atsushi Noro of Nagoya University’s Institute of Engineering and colleagues created Membrane for polystyrenesulfonic acid-based fuel cells containing high-density sulfonic acid groups. The polymer electrolyte membrane is an essential part of fuel cells. When generating electrical energy due to the reaction between gaseous hydrogen and oxygen, its main parameter is proton conductivity – the better it is, the more power the element can generate. As a rule, the higher the density of sulfonic acid groups in the membrane, the better this indicator, but the more difficult it is to manufacture such a membrane. Therefore, commercially available membranes use a polymer containing low density sulfonic acid groups.
Now Japanese scientists have managed to circumvent this problem and have synthesized a material containing ultra-high concentrations of sulfonic acid groups. The proton conductivity was 0.93 siemens per centimeter, which is six times higher than commercially available membranes.
The authors hope their invention will lead to more powerful and efficient fuel cell vehicles.
Previously, biologists confirmed that moths have “tails.” work as bait for bats.