The most important type of science is the kind that “everybody gets,” that students “can go home and discuss with their families,” remarked Prof. Francis DiSalvo, the co-director of the Cornell Fuel Cell Institute. With the Institute’s focus on a deceptively simple technology ultimately capable of solving America’s fuel crisis, the CFCI represents exactly this type of science.

CFCI’s tentacles stretch across campus into several colleges, departments and buildings. Eight professors comprise the collaboration founded in 2003 by Disalvo, and Prof. Hector Abruña, chemistry and chemical biology. The Institute receives funding from the United States Department of Energy (NYSTAR), and industrial companies General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Eastman Kodak. According to the CFCI’s Associate Director Prof. Paul Mutolo ’94, the group works towards making fuel cells more “effective, durable, and cost-efficient.”

What is a fuel cell?

Fuel cells use simple chemical reactions to create a voltage source, which can deliver power to everything from cars to iPods. Severe constraints imposed by the laws of physics limit typical car engines to an efficiency of about 30 percent. In contrast, current fuel cells have attained 50 percent efficiency, which is still below the design’s theoretical upper limit.

Similar to a battery, the fuel cell features negative and positive leads: the anode and the cathode. At the negative anode, hydrogen molecules, which feature pairs of hydrogen atoms, split into individual atoms, which further split into negative electrons and positive protons. The protons can pass through a special wall, or “membrane,” to the opposite side of the cell (the positive cathode), where they combine with oxygen to form water. But the electrons cannot pass through this membrane, and are forced to travel through an electric circuit, where they are put to work by things like car engines, on their way back to the cathode.

Both fuel cells and batteries rely on a chemical reaction to create a voltage. But unlike batteries, the fuel cell is open to interaction with the outside world: for the hydrogen fuel cell, hydrogen and oxygen can flow into the cell, and water can flow out. Since these “reagents” are constantly replenished, a fuel cell never needs to be recharged.

Besides generating automotive power, fuel cells can also store energy for portable electronics.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell (click to enlarge)

Revolutionizing the face of the fuel cell

One current focus of the CFCI is the development of a new cathode catalyst for the fuel cell — a new chemical to help split paired hydrogen (diatomic hydrogen) into single-atom hydrogen. When fuel cells were first discovered in 1836, platinum filled this role. Today, General Motors still uses platinum. In addition to platinum’s high price, over time the precious metal is “poisoned” by “dirty” hydrogen. Dirty hydrogen contains contaminants that cover the platinum and inhibit the reaction process.

Clean hydrogen can be reliably created by separating it from water in a process known as electrolysis. But far cheaper is the creation of dirty hydrogen from fossil fuels. For this reason, CFCI aims to create catalysts more tolerant of dirty hydrogen.

To assist in the development of these new catalysts, Ford donated a “sputtering machine.” Instead of creating alloys, which form from metals that are close to each other on the periodic table and are composed of atoms in random places, the sputtering machine can place atoms of a desired element in a small area of a silicon surface. Three metallic elements are combined on the substrate and then tested as a catalyst. The sputtering machine makes it possible to test hundreds of potential catalysts a year.

Another goal of the CFCI is to replace the support for the catalyst, which is currently composed of carbon prone to erosion over time. Finding a robust material to replace the carbon would reduce the frequency of repairs replacements made to the cells.

DiSalvo said improving the durability and cost-efficiency of hydrogen fuel cells remains the real challenge. Fuel cells will not be implemented in the imminent future. It may be 10 or 20 years before hydrogen fuel cells are commonplace, if the technology ever proves cost efficient.

Challenges and Competition

Additional challenges beyond the device itself prevent hydrogen fuel cells from immediate implementation. Compressed hydrogen costs around seven dollars a gallon and hence a kilowatt of energy costs around $107. Very few American gas stations currently offer hydrogen pumps. In comparison, European countries like Iceland have begun converting to a hydrogen economy.

“There is not nearly enough being done from the government support side,” said Mutolo. “They need to do a lot more.”

Competition among alternative fuel technologies also proves formidable. Electric cars, fuel cell cars and diesel-run cars all provide a potential future fuel strategy.

Automobile companies have begun to concentrate more on electric cars due to the lack of breakthroughs for the hydrogen fuel cells.

According to The Wall Street Journal, General Motors and Toyota have “expressed doubts about the viability of hydrogen fuel cells for mass-market production in the near term and suggested their companies are now betting that electric cars will prove to be … better.”

“Electrical vehicles are very powerful,” agreed Mutolo. “[Cars] may not need a fuel cell on board.” However, he argued that the half of the electricity utilized to run American electrical vehicles comes from coal resources. Hence, “trading our gasoline powered cars for essentially coal powered cars would be jumping from the frying pan into the fire,” he said.

Ford recently expressed its plans to release the ECOnetric in Europe, a diesel-run car that can get 65 miles per gallon. However, according to DiSalvo, fuel cells can get up to 100 mpg. Mutolo referred to diesel technology as a “stepping stone” towards fuel cell technology. Diesel is much cleaner than gasoline but has a disparaged reputation due to its use by trucks and its higher price. The lack of diesel usage in the United States has prevented many automobile companies from releasing diesel-run cars in the United States.

Mutolo hoped the push for alternative fuel sources “will play a significant role” in the election but worries that it will take a backseat to the current concern about the state of the American economy.

DiSalvo noted that the switch to an alternative fuel strategy, whichever it may be, must be impending for sustainability reasons. “If it was only that we had to import fossil fuels … but the fact that fossil fuels are also connected with global climate change then that shifts the equation.”

A Lack of Publicity

Despite the group’s groundbreaking research, many Cornellians remain unaware of the Cornell Fuel Cell Institute. Researchers acknowledge this may be due to the CFCI’s “focus is fundamental research which doesn’t have the most tangible impact right away,” said Mutolo.

To address this, the CFCI is now branching out into the community. The CFCI recently held Project Driveway, which gave faculty and students the opportunity to drive a Chevrolet Equinox, a fuel-cell powered car that drew continuous drivers for four straight hours.

Additionally, CFCI is engaged in outreach opportunities in the local area. Mutolo visits high schools in order to convey the importance of alternative fuel sources. He said the current generation of children acknowledge the merit of the fuel cell, while older generations “think more about why aren’t we drilling more.”

Mutolo said the CFCI is also “exploring the possibility of bringing fuel-cell cars back to campus for a longer term deployment.”