In their attempt to develop cost effective, light and long lasting fuel cells powered by formic acid the researchers at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC PAS) in Warsaw have developed a new catalyst.
The fuel cells available presently in the market are hydrogen-powered and reach up to 60% power generation. The technological problems involved in miniaturizing such fuel cells prevent their usage in consumer electronic devices. The use of methanol fuel cell technology did not materialize further due to its toxic quality and prohibitive cost involved in using platinum based catalysts and its high level operating temperature of around 90°C.
A new catalyst developed at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw uses formic acid. It allows reactions to happen at room level temperature thus offering improved efficiency and power generation than methanol. Additionally formic acid permits easy storage and transportation.
According to Dr. Borodzinsky, the catalyst developed by the institute has lower level activity initially when compared to other catalysts that use pure palladium but after two hours of continuous operation catalyst activity stabilizes and improves further afterwards. Unlike other palladium-based catalysts that decrease with time the new catalyst developed by IPC PAS provides stable operation continuously.
The catalyst formulated by IPC PAS continues to preserve its properties even when operated using low purity formic acid developed from biomass. The carbon dioxide released by the fuel cells during the power production process is a greenhouse gas. Since biomass is acquired from plants, which require carbon dioxide to grow, the formic acid obtained from biomass and used in fuel cells does not alter the carbon dioxide content in air thus saving the environment from increased level of carbon dioxide discharges.
Presently the research is being continued on pilot fuel cell batteries with the developed catalyst and formic acid. The researchers will develop a prototype of the commercial version within a few years. The formic acid fuel cells when commercially available will revolutionize the use of portable electronic devices such as GPS-based devices, laptops and mobile phones.
Source: http://www.ichf.edu.pl