PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Materials scientists at Harvard demonstrate the first macro-scale thin-film solid-oxide fuel cell

Strong, nanostructured membrane enables scaling for practical clean-energy applications

Materials scientists at Harvard demonstrate the first macro-scale thin-film solid-oxide fuel cell
2011-04-04
(Press-News.org) Cambridge, Mass. - April 3, 2011 - Materials scientists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and SiEnergy Systems LLC have demonstrated the first macro-scale thin-film solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC).

While SOFCs have previously worked at the micro-scale, this is the first time any research group has overcome the structural challenges of scaling the technology up to a practical size with a proportionally higher power output.

Reported online April 3 in Nature Nanotechnology, the demonstration of this fully functional SOFC indicates the potential of electrochemical fuel cells to be a viable source of clean energy.

"The breakthrough in this work is that we have demonstrated power density comparable to what you can get with tiny membranes, but with membranes that are a factor of a hundred or so larger, demonstrating that the technology is scalable," says principal investigator Shriram Ramanathan, Associate Professor of Materials Science at SEAS.

SOFCs create electrical energy via an electrochemical reaction that takes place across an ultra-thin membrane. This 100-nanometer membrane, comprising the electrolyte and electrodes, has to be thin enough to allow ions to pass through it at a relatively low temperature (which, for ceramic fuel cells, lies in the range of 300 to 500 degrees Celsius). These low temperatures allow for a quick start-up, a more compact design, and less use of rare-earth materials.

So far, however, thin films have been successfully implemented only in micro-SOFCs, where each chip in the fuel cell wafer is about 100 microns wide. For practical applications, such as use in compact power sources, SOFCs need to be about 50 times wider.

The electrochemical membranes are so thin that creating one on that scale is roughly equivalent to making a 16-foot-wide sheet of paper. Naturally, the structural issues are significant.

"If you make a conventional thin membrane on that scale without a support structure, you can't do anything—it will just break," says co-author Bo-Kuai Lai, a postdoctoral fellow at SEAS. "You make the membrane in the lab, but you can't even take it out. It will just shatter."

With lead author Masaru Tsuchiya (Ph.D. '09), a former member of Ramanathan's lab who is now at SiEnergy, Ramanathan and Lai fortified the thin film membrane using a metallic grid that looks like nanoscale chicken wire.

The tiny metal honeycomb provides the critical structural element for the large membrane while also serving as a current collector. Ramanathan's team was able to manufacture membrane chips that were 5 mm wide, combining hundreds of these chips into palm-sized SOFC wafers.

While other researchers' earlier attempts at implementing the metallic grid showed structural success, Ramanathan's team is the first to demonstrate a fully functional SOFC on this scale. Their fuel cell's power density of 155 milliwatts per square centimeter (at 510 degrees Celsius) is comparable to the power density of micro-SOFCs.

When multiplied by the much larger active area of this new fuel cell, that power density translates into an output high enough for relevance to portable power.

Previous work in Ramanathan's lab has developed micro-SOFCs that are all-ceramic or that use methane as the fuel source instead of hydrogen. The researchers hope that future work on SOFCs will incorporate these technologies into the large-scale fuel cells, improving their affordability.

In the coming months, they will explore the design of novel nanostructured anodes for hydrogen-alternative fuels that are operable at these low temperatures and work to enhance the microstructural stability of the electrodes.



INFORMATION:

The research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and performed in part at the Harvard University Center for Nanoscale Systems, a member of the NSF-funded National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network.


[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Materials scientists at Harvard demonstrate the first macro-scale thin-film solid-oxide fuel cell

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Shock Savings of Up To 20% on Mother's Day Treats

2011-04-04
Tracking down the perfect Mother's Day treat is the perfect way to show your mother how much you appreciate all that she does for you. Money saving website DiscountVouchers.co.uk is leading the way to massive saving this year, with discounts on a wide range of products. A selection of special experience days and other items have also been hand picked by the team at DiscountVouchers.co.uk, and there are savings of up to 20% to be scored. On top of all this, anyone who checks out the website right now will have the opportunity to join the exclusive Mother's Day competition ...

Cardiovascular patients' perspectives on guilt as a motivational tool

2011-04-04
New Orleans – Current research supports the notion that lifestyle choices influence cardiovascular health, but to what extent specific emotions play is undefined. Now, new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has revealed the role that guilt may play as a motivational tool for cardiovascular patients. Penn researchers interviewed 100 adult cardiology outpatients about the role that guilt plays in their adherence to instructions given by their physicians and as part of their views of their own health. The majority of the patients reported that ...

Underground Elephant Has Pledged to Donate $50,000 to the American Red Cross Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami Fund

2011-04-04
Underground Elephant has pledged to donate $50,000 over the next year to the American Red Cross Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami Fund. The donation will support the relief efforts for survivors who have been affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. "The impact of the earthquake and tsunami's devastation on the people in Japan is unconscionable," said Jason Kulpa, CEO of Underground Elephant. "All of us at Underground Elephant are deeply moved by the tremendous global support that Japan is receiving and hope that our donation will further assist relief efforts." Underground ...

Vitamin D can decrease -- or increase -- breast cancer development and insulin resistance

2011-04-04
Orlando, Fla. -- In mice models of breast cancer, researchers at the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, a part of Georgetown University Medical Center, found that vitamin D significantly reduced development of estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer both in lean and obese mice, but had no beneficial effect in estrogen receptor-negative (ER-) cancer. In fact, obese mice destined to develop ER- breast cancer were clearly worse off than lean ER- mice if they were given vitamin D in their diet. The researchers, who will present their study at the American ...

Neo-Soul Band Sweet Leda Takes a Stand for Gay Marriage with "Let Her Love Her"

2011-04-04
"I know a girl. She loves a girl. She is her world. She always hides the tears that she cries. Baby don't hide. If you disagree then just let them be," proclaims "Let Her Love Her," the second single off of rising neo-soul/pop band, Sweet Leda's recently-released album, Need the Music. The song challenges prejudices and anti-gay sentiments by asserting that love is love. "Imagine if you finally found the right person, and you weren't even allowed to marry that person! Even worse, imagine that some people protested against you and demonstrated hate simply because of ...

Are ICDs up to par with patients living longer?

2011-04-04
Most patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) who have an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) now live more than seven years and those ICD patients with hereditary heart disease can live for decades, based on a scientific paper that will be presented at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Scientific Sessions in New Orleans, April 1-3. With ICM, the left ventricle of the patient's heart pumps blood poorly due to coronary artery disease. With DCM, the heart has become weakened and enlarged, and cannot pump blood efficiently. ...

Chest pain med is effective for refractory angina, but adherence problematic

2011-04-04
Ranolazine (Ranexa, Gilead) is an effective anti-anginal therapy in patients with refractory angina; however, at one year only 59 percent of patients remained on the drug, according to a scientific poster that will be presented at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Scientific Sessions in New Orleans, April 1-3. Patients with refractory angina, who have chronic chest pain but are not candidates for revascularization, have limited therapeutic options and significant limitations in their quality of life, the study authors wrote. Conversely, patients with chronic angina ...

Hartford Students Receive a $78,000 Gift of Success - The Birch Group, LLC and TTI Performance Systems Donate Their Skills and Talent to the Academy

Hartford Students Receive a $78,000 Gift of Success - The Birch Group, LLC and TTI Performance Systems Donate Their Skills and Talent to the Academy
2011-04-04
Each of the 400 students at Hartford Public High School Engineering and Green Technology Academy received a key to success in the form a DISC Behavioral and Workplace Motivator Assessment courtesy of Bill Bonnstetter, CEO and founder of TTI Performance Systems, Ltd. in Scottsdale, AZ and John Birch, founder and president of The Birch Group, LLC, a management consultant firm based in New Britain, CT. TTI Performance Systems generously provided the assessments and The Birch Group administered and coordinated the reports as well as provided training to the students. The value ...

Protocol-driven heart attack care proves effective and contagious

2011-04-04
The implementation of acute heart attack or ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) guidelines, protocols and standing orders in Minnesota community hospitals without cardiac catheterization labs has dramatically improved since 2003, according to a scientific poster that will be presented at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Scientific Sessions in New Orleans, April 1-3. Since the 1990s, the American College Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) STEMI guidelines recommended that all hospitals develop protocols and standing orders (reperfusion strategy, ...

Serum test could identify lung cancer in people who never smoked

2011-04-04
ORLANDO, Fla. — A panel of biomarkers appears to be able to identify the presence of lung cancer in the blood samples of people who have never smoked, according to data presented at the AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011, held here April 2-6. While lung cancer has long been linked to smoking, approximately one-fourth of patients with lung cancer have never smoked. Researchers are working on ways to identify the presence of lung cancer in these patients. Charlie Birse, Ph.D., associate director of product development at Celera Corporation, and colleagues are investigating ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Unlocking the mysteries of the human gut

High-quality nanodiamonds for bioimaging and quantum sensing applications

New clinical practice guideline on the process for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease or a related form of cognitive impairment or dementia

Evolution of fast-growing fish-eating herring in the Baltic Sea

Cryptographic protocol enables secure data sharing in the floating wind energy sector

Can drinking coffee or tea help prevent head and neck cancer?

Development of a global innovative drug in eye drop form for treating dry age-related macular degeneration

Scientists unlock secrets behind flowering of the king of fruits

Texas A&M researchers illuminate the mysteries of icy ocean worlds

Prosthetic material could help reduce infections from intravenous catheters

Can the heart heal itself? New study says it can

Microscopic discovery in cancer cells could have a big impact

Rice researchers take ‘significant leap forward’ with quantum simulation of molecular electron transfer

Breakthrough new material brings affordable, sustainable future within grasp

How everyday activities inside your home can generate energy

Inequality weakens local governance and public satisfaction, study finds

Uncovering key molecular factors behind malaria’s deadliest strain

UC Davis researchers help decode the cause of aggressive breast cancer in women of color

Researchers discovered replication hubs for human norovirus

SNU researchers develop the world’s most sensitive flexible strain sensor

Tiny, wireless antennas use light to monitor cellular communication

Neutrality has played a pivotal, but under-examined, role in international relations, new research shows

Study reveals right whales live 130 years — or more

Researchers reveal how human eyelashes promote water drainage

Pollinators most vulnerable to rising global temperatures are flies, study shows

DFG to fund eight new research units

Modern AI systems have achieved Turing's vision, but not exactly how he hoped

Quantum walk computing unlocks new potential in quantum science and technology

Construction materials and household items are a part of a long-term carbon sink called the “technosphere”

First demonstration of quantum teleportation over busy Internet cables

[Press-News.org] Materials scientists at Harvard demonstrate the first macro-scale thin-film solid-oxide fuel cell
Strong, nanostructured membrane enables scaling for practical clean-energy applications