Use of nanomaterials in fuel cell technology

化石燃料可以作为一种能源货币加以补充，方法是引入氢作为能源转移的媒介，通过利用电解槽和燃料电池进行发电、储存和转化为电力。这种发电模式可以通过引入可再生能源来缓解与温室气体排放影响相关的问题。今天，所有主要的汽车公司(福特、通用、戴姆勒-克莱斯勒、宝马、本田、丰田)都有主要的燃料电池计划和示范车辆上路。燃料电池技术商业化的要求是设备相对便宜，并且它们将在广泛的电力需求范围内可靠地运行。这两个要求都要求开发出活性、稳定和经济高效的电催化剂，以取代目前用于碱性燃料电池电极的昂贵的贵金属。对非晶态和纳米晶材料发展的基础研究表明，这些材料作为电催化剂和耐蚀材料具有优异的优点。前沿碱性水电解槽(AWE)可以加压，可以接近SPEWE的电流密度和填充效率。缺少的关键环节是在碱性燃料电池(AFC)技术中引入纳米工程材料的开发，以显著提高操作电流密度、包装效率等。AWE/AFC组合系统通过共享工厂组件的平衡，在极大地降低成本和系统简单性的情况下提供了显著的性能属性。作者在电池设计和材料方面开发了重大的知识产权，可以在本提案中加以利用。

Fossil fuels can be supplemented as an energy currency by introducing hydrogen as the medium of energy transfer through generation, storage and conversion into electricity by utilization of electrolysers and fuel cells. This mode of generation can alleviate problems associated with GHG emission effects by the introduction of renewables. All major automotive companies (Ford, GM, Daimler-Chrysler, BMW, Honda, Toyota)have major fuel cell programs and demonstration vehicles on the road today. Requirements for the commercialization of fuel cell technology are that devices are relatively inexpensive and that they will operate reliably over a wide range of power demands. Both of these requirements necessitate that active, stable, and cost effective electrocatalysts be developed to replace the expensive noble metals now used in alkaline fuel cell electrodes. Fundamental research on the development of amorphous and nanocrystalline materials has shown these materials to have excellent merit as electrocatalysts and corrosion resistant materials. The leading edge alkaline water electrolyser(AWE) can be pressurized and can approach the current density and packing efficiency of SPEWE. The key missing link is the incorporation of nanoengineering material developments in alkaline fuel cell (AFC) technology to significantly improve operating current density, packing efficiency etc.The combined (AWE/AFC)system offers significant performance attributes at a greatly reduced cost and system simplicity by sharing balance of plant components .The author has developed significant intellectual property in both cell design and materials that can be exploited in this proposal.