|
 |
MORE Fuel cells are widely believed to hold the key to a cleaner, more sustainable future for automobiles and to be able to deliver on the promise of longer running portable electronic devices such as laptops and cell phones. At the heart of the fuel cell is a thin, polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM). The membrane is an extremely sophisticated material, and its characteristics determine whether a fuel cell will be efficient or inefficient, compact or bulky, economical or expensive, reliable or unreliable, convenient or clumsy. For decades, the only materials capable of functioning as fuel cell membranes have been perfluorinated polymers. In spite of decades of additional experimentation, and literally thousands of fuel cell designs based upon the use of perfluorinated membranes, practical levels of performance have not been attained, particularly in terms of cost. Many knowledgeable observers believe that perfluorinated membranes will never be practical for widespread, consumer use in laptops, cell phones, and automobiles. Creating alternative fuel cell membranes is an extremely challenging process. PolyFuel recognized that it could use its thorough understanding of system-level fuel cell requirements to directly engineer the nano-architecture and chemical characteristics of a new family of “hydrocarbon” membrane materials by being able to, figuratively, “think like a proton.” This, plus the company’s unique rapid prototyping and assessment capability, have led to literally hundreds of candidate hydrocarbon membrane materials being engineered over the past few years. PolyFuel now has membranes that have exhibited breakthroughs in fuel cell performance for both portable electronic devices and for automotive applications. Such “engineered hydrocarbon membranes”, the company believes, will be the future of fuel cells. |
