A new innovation from Ballard Power Systems Inc., Canada, and cleantech firm Nisshinbo Holdings Inc., Japan, could make fuel cells dramatically cheaper to produce. Ballard and Nisshinbo unveiled a newly-developed Non Precious Metal Catalyst (NPMC) based on a carbon alloy material for use in PEM fuel cells. The British Columbia based company plans to launch a 30-watt FCgen-1040 fuel cell stack, which incorporates the cheaper catalyst, for commercial use in late 2017.
The new fuel cell will be an NPMC variant of Ballard’s FCgen-micro fuel cell stack, an existing air-cooled product designed for integration into portable applications: such as laptop and cell phone chargers and military devices. The amount of platinum catalyst-coated material used in fuel cells, known as platinum loading, has been successfully reduced over time, but Ballard says platinum still accounts for 10 to 15 per cent of the cost of a fuel cell stack today.
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Catalyst for hydrogen fuel cells
VATIS UPDATE Part
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