Methanol fuel cells are increasingly touted as potential replacements for conventional batteries in everything from cellphones to laptops. They work by allowing protons from the methanol to flow across a membrane to generate current.But the membranes they employ have a significant disadvantage – in addition to protons, they allow methanol to cross over as well. This dramatically reduces the efficiency of the fuel cell, not least because the methanol that passes through is wasted.
NowFred Wudl, an organic chemist at the University of California, Los Angeles, US, and colleagues say it is possible to block the passage of methanol through the membrane by plugging gaps within its structure using buckyballs – nanosopic spheres of carbon.
The buckyballs – also called fullerenes – would have chemical groups attached to them that shuttle the protons across the membrane while blocking the progress of methanol molecules.
Membranes made this way would have the potential to dramatically improve the efficiency of Methanol fuel cells, Wudl says.
Read the full buckyball membrane patent application.
Justin Mullins