The discovery of a new catalyst that boosts the production of oxygen in fuel cells will pave the way for “personalised” renewable energy power plants, a study has found.
In a report to the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, a group of scientists led by Daniel Nocera, Ph.D released details of a breakthrough which Nocera claims will, using existing home solar technology, eventually free households and businesses from reliance on electricity companies for energy.
"Our goal is to make each home its own power station,” Nocera said. “We’re working toward development of ‘personalized’ energy units that can be manufactured, distributed and installed inexpensively."
Nocera’s vision is for a home with a rooftop solar panel system providing energy for heating, cooking, and charging an electric car during the day. Surplus electricity would go to an “electrolyser,” a device that breaks down ordinary water into its two components, hydrogen and oxygen. These elements would then be fed into a fuel cell which would in turn produce clean electricity, picking up the slack from the solar panels at night, giving the home a constant flow of power.
Nocera’s report focused on the electrolyzer, which needs catalysts – materials that jumpstart chemical reactions like the ones that break water up into hydrogen and oxygen. Until now, effective catalysts for separating sufficient quantities of oxygen have been severely limited. The new catalyst multiplies oxygen production 200-fold. It eliminates the need for expensive platinum catalysts and potentially toxic chemicals used in making them.
It is hoped the new catalyst will usher in a new era of ultra-efficient electrolyser-fed fuel cells which, coupled with solar panel and other renewable energy power systems, will give households true energy independence.
Image credit Len Rubenstein and Massachusetts Institute Of Technology
