Researchers have developed a new way to make low-cost, single-atom catalysts for fuel cells — an advance that could make important clean energy technology more economically viable.
Their work is published in the Advanced Energy Materials journal. Hydrogen fuel cells are critical for the clean energy economy as they are more than two times as efficient at creating electricity than polluting combustion engines. Their only waste product is water.
However, the high price of the platinum-based catalysts that are used for the chemical reaction in fuel cells significantly hinders their commercialization. Instead of the rare platinum, researchers would like to use nonprecious metals, such as iron or cobalt. But reactions with these abundantly available metals tend to stop working after a short time.
“Low-cost catalysts with high activity and stability are critical for the commercialization of the fuel cells.” said Qiurong Shi, postdoctoral researcher in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering (MME) and a co-first author on the paper.
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