Colorado School of Mines researchers report to have succeeded in developing affordable and efficient ceramic fuel cells that could be used to power homes from five years worth of work. The research would enable more efficient use of natural gas for power generation through the use of fuel cells that convert the chemical energy of a fuel source into electrical energy close to where it is used.

The work by Colorado School of Mines researchers is significant enough to be featured in the July 23 issue of Science magazine.

The research, led by Mines Professor Ryan O’Hayre, would enable more efficient use of natural gas for power generation through the use of fuel cells that convert the chemical energy of a fuel source into electrical energy.

Natural gas, the reliable environmentally friendly fuel source alternative would help guarantee greater energy security while distributed generation technologies would lead to reduced energy costs for consumers.

O’Hayre said, “Our work demonstrates a proton-conducting ceramic fuel cell that generates electricity off of either hydrogen or methane fuel and runs at much lower temperatures that conventional ceramic fuel cells. We achieved this advance by developing a new air electrode for our fuel cell that is highly active even at lower temperatures because it is a triple-conducting electrode (it conducts electron holes, oxygen ions, and protons all at the same time) and we applied a relatively new fabrication method that greatly reduces the complexity and cost for the fuel cell fabrication.”

Its great news, but the article is behind a $20 paywall. Shame, it was funded by ARPA-E under the REBELS program, The National Science Foundation using tax dollars and the Petroleum Institute who would likely be thrilled to get some public notice. Its the eternal twisting of money now over the long term public interest, pay for the work and then pay to see the results. Then again there wouldn’t be any peer review journals without some cash flow.


Comments

1 Comment so far

  1. Matt Musson on July 31, 2015 12:30 PM

    This would be a huge leap for off the grid electricty. Plus – you could turn stranded natural gas reserves into electricity without having to liquify it first!

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