About the presentation
"Prospects and Challenges of Fuel Cell Technology"
The rapid depletion of fossil fuels and growing environmental concerns make energy the greatest challenge facing humankind in the 21st century. To address this impending problem, several alternative, sustainable, clean energy technologies are being pursued around the globe. Among them, fuel cells are appealing for a variety of energy needs ranging from portable to automobile to stationary power. However, the commercialization of fuel cell technology is hampered by high material and manufacturing costs as well as durability and reliability issues. For example, the world’s limited supply of platinum that is used as a catalyst in fuel cells cannot support widespread commercialization of the technology. We at UT-Austin are engaged in the design and development of nanostructured non-platinum alloy catalysts. New ternary alloy nanocatalysts based on palladium are found to show performance similar to that of platinum for the oxygen reduction reaction (cathode) in fuel cells. They also offer the added advantage of high tolerance to methanol poisoning in direct methanol fuel cells and to heterocycle (e.g., imidazole) poisoning with the new high temperature membranes developed in our laboratory.
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