Monash fuels next generation of hybrid cars

New Materials Asia, Sept, 2008

Scientists at Australia's Monash University have revolutionised the design of fuel cells used in the latest generation of hybrid cars, which could make the vehicles more reliable and cheaper to build.

The breakthrough, published in the journal Science, revolves around the design of an electrically generated fuel cell in which a specially coated form of popular high-technology outdoor and sporting clothing material Goretex is the key component.

The Monash team designed and tested an air-electrode, where a fine layer--just 0.4 [mu]m thick, or about 100 times thinner than a human hair--of highly conductive plastic is deposited on the breathable fabric. The conductive plastic acts as both the fuel cell electrode and catalyst.

Dr Bjorn Winther-Jensen said that just as Goretex had revolutionised the outdoor clothing industry, it could hold similar promise for motorists.

"The same way as waste vapour is drawn out of this material to make hikers more comfortable and less prone to hypothermia, so it is able to 'breathe' oxygen into our fuel cell and into contact with the conductive plastic," Winther-Jensen said.

Professor Doug MacFarlane from the Australian Centre for Electromaterials Science (ACES) said the discovery was probably the most important development in fuel cell technology in the last 20 years.

"The benefits for the motoring industry and for motorists are that the new design removes the need for platinum, which acts as the catalyst and is currently central to the manufacturing process," MacFarlane said.

"Our reliance on platinum is making the likelihood of using fuel cells in everyday passenger cars increasingly improbable.

"The cost of the platinum component alone of current fuel cells for a small car with a 100 kW electric engine is more than the total cost of a 100 kW gasoline engine. Also, current annual world production of platinum is only sufficient for about 3 million 100 kW vehicles, less than one-twentieth of the current annual global production of vehicles."

The new-design fuel cell has been tested for periods of up to 1500 hours continuously using hydrogen as the fuel source.

Professor Maria Forsyth, associate research director of ACES at Monash, said testing has shown no sign of material degradation or deterioration in performance.

For more information, contact: Professor Maria Forsyth, associate research director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, Materials Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3169, Australia; tel: 3-9905-4939; fax: 3-9905-4940; E-mail: maria.forsyth@spme.monash.edu.au; Internet: www.electromaterials.edu.au