Fuel cell research: Towards efficient energy

Abstract

Fuel cells can contribute to energy security, because they possess the potential to convert potentially renewable fuels such as hydrogen, methanol or ethanol cleanly and efficiently into electrical energy. They are of particular interest to South Africa, as they incorporate catalytic metals, e.g. Platinum, of which three-quarters of known reserves are found in South Africa. The authors’ work hitherto was focused on developing, evaluating and improving the key electrochemical components of fuel cells, i.e. membranes, catalysts, gas diffusion layers and electrodes. This paper highlights the results achieved to date in the fields of hydrogen fuel cells, direct alcohol fuel cells and anionic membranes. Furthermore, the paper describes how a test cell design from Helsinki University of Technology was modified to improve the geometric utilisation of the flow field plates, to allow upgrading from a single cell to a stack, as well as to measure and control temperature