DoE News: NREL & NIST Start Making Doped Nano-materials With Big H2 Storage Potentials GOLDEN, CO/GAITHERSBURG, MD – Working independently of each other, scientists at two Federal research institutions have come up with theoretical, similar, pathways that may lead to novel materials for onboard hydrogen storage with capacities about 50% higher than what the Energy Department would like to achieve five years from now.
Illuminated Hybrid Platinum/Semiconductor Electrode Delivers More Output in DMFC NOTRE DAME, IN - By grafting a semiconductor photocatalyst onto a carbon fiber paper electrode with a platinum-based catalyst, a team of scientists from the University of Notre Dame here and Indiana University Northwest in Gary has come up with a new hybrid electrode for a direct methanol fuel cell that, with light shining on it, produces considerably more power than a straight platinum-catalyzed electrode.
Intelligent Energy to Merge with U.S. Firm, Launches FC Bike in California LOS ANGELES - In what at first blush seems like an unlikely arrangement, a California maker of nautical apparel that has fallen on hard times, Dickie Walker Marine, Inc., Oceanside, CA is acquiring a British fuel cell technology developer, Intelligent Energy, designer of the ENV, a funkily futuristic fuel cell bike.
UK Government Proposes £40 Million Carbon Abatement, H2 R&D Package LONDON - Billed as a runup to the early-July G8 Summit in Scotland where global warming issues are scheduled to be center stage, the British government last month announced a £40 million (about $73 million) funding package spread over several years for carbon abatement and hydrogen technologies.
Briefly Noted: Alanate Safety Tests First safety tests of hydrogen-charged nano-scale natrium alanates indicate that, contrary to what had been expected in a tank burst, these powders don’t ignite or burn.
Briefly Noted: Renssalaer Fuel Cell Education Grants Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY has been awarded a $3.2 million first-of-its-kind fuel cell research education grant by the National Science Foundation.
Briefly Noted: Forecasts Two new forecasts predict substantial growth in both the fuel cell and hydrogen markets in the coming decade.
Briefly Noted: FuelCell Energy Orders Danbury, CT-based FuelCell Energy Inc. last month announced the sale of a 250 kW DFC 300MA™ power plant for the U.S. Marine Corps. Earlier in May, FuelCell Energy announced it had sold two other 250 kW DFC units.
Briefly Noted: Ballard Divestment In the second of three steps in divesting itself of its German subsidiary, Ballard Power Systems Inc. last month signed a formal agreement with DaimlerChrysler AG and Ford Motor Co. to sell its German branch.
Events The “5th International Symposium on Multiphase Flow, Heat Mass Transfer and Energy Conversion” will be held July 3-8 at Xi’an Jiaotong University in Xi’an, P.R. China.
