Nanotech catalysts For Alcohol- Powered Green Cars
Scientists at the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a new nanotechnology catalyst that could make alcohol-powered fuel cells possible for the first time.Like batteries that never die, fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into water while producing electricity. However, hydrogen is difficult to produce and explosively dangerous to store and transport.
As an alternative, hydrogen-rich compounds like ethanol - basically, pure alcohol - can be oxidised into the hydrogen ions and electrons that are needed to generate electricity. Up until now, though, scientists have been unable to find a catalyst capable of breaking the bonds between ethanol's carbon atoms.
The DOE's breakthrough is to develop an electrocatalyst, made from platinum and rhodium atoms on carbon-supported tin dioxide nanoparticles, that can break carbon bonds at room temperature, with just carbon dioxide as a by-product.
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As an alternative, hydrogen-rich compounds like ethanol - basically, pure alcohol - can be oxidised into the hydrogen ions and electrons that are needed to generate electricity. Up until now, though, scientists have been unable to find a catalyst capable of breaking the bonds between ethanol's carbon atoms.
The DOE's breakthrough is to develop an electrocatalyst, made from platinum and rhodium atoms on carbon-supported tin dioxide nanoparticles, that can break carbon bonds at room temperature, with just carbon dioxide as a by-product.
see more
Labels: electricity, ethanol, green-car
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