GLOBAL CHALLENGES

MIT Claims Fuel Cell Electrode Breakthrough

R. Colin Johnson | Date: 06-02-10 | Comments

MIT reports boosting the efficiency of fuel cells by 100 times by virtue of a cheap yet super-efficient new electrode material.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has licensed to Sun Catalytix a durable and low-cost material for the oxygen-producing electrode in a fuel cell. The cobalt and nickel-borate-based electrode materials enable the creation of more efficient fuel cells that have increased their rate of oxygen production from catalysts by one-hundredfold. The inexpensive cobalt and nickel-borate-based compounds eliminate the current need for expensive platinum catalysts and dangerous chemicals, such as the concentrated alkali used in commercial systems. Sun Catalytix promises safe, super-efficient versions of the system, suitable for homes and small businesses within two years.

Based on the research of MIT Professor Daniel Nocera, the new electrode materials expand on previously reported attempts to imitate the process of photosynthesis. If successful, Nocera's new materials will allow both homes and commercial buildings to become self-sufficient sources of sustained renewable energy by taking intermittent sources of daytime energy�principally solar cells�to create hydrogen fuel and oxygen, which can be stored and then later used to produce electricity on demand. The idea is that, during the day, energy from solar cells can be used directly. All excess will be fed to his electrolyzer, which splits water (H2O) and stores its components separately in hydrogen and oxygen tanks. Then in the evening, or on cloudy days, the hydrogen and oxygen would be fed to a fuel cell, which recombines them into water and, in the process, generates electricity.

MIT professor Daniel Nocera searches for catalysts that could enable home electrolyzers to store solar energy generated during the day for use at night.

Today, commercial electrolyzes are relatively efficient but depend on dangerous chemicals, like concentrated alkali, that could not be entrusted to home users without stringent safeguards. Instead, Nocera's team has been searching for alternative catalysts that would be safe to use at home, but still rival or exceed the efficiencies of big commercial systems. Using funds from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Chesonis Family Foundation, Nocera recently reported progress on both cobalt and his newest electrode compound, nickel-borate.

The side of the electrolyzer that produces hydrogen has been easier to optimize, but catalyzing oxygen has proven to be more difficult. However, Nocera's new nickel-borate-based material puts the oxygen side of his electrolyzer closer to being on par with the hydrogen side, thereby making commercialization of home electrolyzers much more feasible. Sun Catalytix promises to have commercial versions of Nocera's electrolyzer designs available to consumers by 2012.

Nocera performed the work with post-doctoral researcher Mircea Dinca and doctoral candidate Yogesh Surendranath. The U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency has recently awarded the team with a grant, which it plans to use to search for related compounds that can further increase the efficiency of its electrolyzer technology. The hope is that nickel-borate belongs to a family of compounds that can be optimized for super-efficient, long-term energy storage technologies.