NANOCUBO OF PLATINE IMPOVE THE PERFORMANCE OF FUEL CELLS

NANOCUBO OF PLATINE IMPOVE THE PERFORMANCE OF FUEL CELLS

Two principals to the success of hydrogen powered cars are related on fuel cells. Just like batteries, the fuel cells produce electrical energy buy chemical reaction, but it has been discarded by efficiency low and his high production costs.
Many scientist has proven with a wide variety of metals and others materials without overcame achieve this problems.
Now, a team manages by Shouheng Sun, Chemical teacher´s of Brown, he has solved a dilemma more like a cube Rubik for utilize platine, a precious metal coveted by his capacity for potency a chemical reaction in the fuel cells. The team has demostred that giving the platine a form of cube improve considerably his efficiency in phase of explained of fuel cells know as reaction of reduction oxygen. The result of Sun has published online in the magazine Angewandte Chemie.
The platine help to reduce the energetic barriers ( quantity energy need for iniciate a reaction)
In the phase of oxidity of a fuel cell. As well it result utility in the other extreme of fuel cell, know as cathode.
There, it has been shown that the platinum helps in the reduction of oxygen, a process in which the electrons are take from hydrogen and are united with oxygen atoms to create an electrical charge. The reaction is important because alone produce water.
This subproduct( in some part of carbon dioxide that origin the global warming )one principal hand by the that the hydrogen cells are a subject of investment tempting for the car´s producer as for politician.

Nevertheless scientists have found difficulties when they want to maximize the potential of platinum on reaction of reduction oxygen. The barriers turn mainly around the form and the surface of the area (geometry geography). What Sun have discovered is moulding the platinum on a cube form at nanoscale boost its catalysis, that is to say, boost the speed of the chemical reaction.

"For the first time we can control the morphology of the particle to make it similar like a cube", said Sun. "Before we had got a very limited control on this process". "Now we have shown it can be done in a form of coherent way".

During his experiments, Sun with the postgraduate student Chao Wang and other engineers of the Japanese company Hitachi Maxwell Ltd. had created cubical and polyhedrical forms of different sizes adding platinum acetylacetonate (Pt(acac)2) and quantities trace of iron pentacarbonyl (Fe(CO)5) on specific levels of temperature. The team watched the cubes were more efficient as catalysts dued to on a big part to its surface structure and its resistance to be absorbed by the sulfate on the fuel cell dissolving. Next step acording to Sun will be to construct a fuel cell with an electrolytic polymeric membrane and in it test the platinum nanocubes as a catalyst.