better electricity generation tagged posts

The energy output of the new fuel cell design produces about 20 percent of what is possible in hydrogen fuel cells currently on the market, but the system is about 100 times more effective than biofuel cells that use related organic shuttles.
Credit: Matt Wisniewski

Fuel cells have long been viewed as a promising power source. These devices, invented in the 1830s, generate electricity directly from chemicals, such as hydrogen and oxygen, and produce only water vapor as emissions. But most fuel cells are too expensive, inefficient, or both. In a new approach, inspired by biology, a University of Wisconsin-Madison team has designed a fuel cell using cheaper materials and an organic compound that shuttles electrons and protons.

In a traditional fuel cell, the electrons and protons from hydroge...