They may have come up with a way to replace platinum catalysts with doped carbon nanotubes.
Of course, this is bad news for potential space industrialists, because it will depress the market for platinum-group metals (PGM) long thought to be a potential source of extraterrestrial wealth in asteroids.
I think that fuel cells are great and any thing that lowers their price is great.
I dunno, what makes anyone suggest this catalyst is “cut-rate”? Just because it uses carbon as a raw material instead of platinum? By that calculus, computers should be cheaper than plumbing, since silicon is far more plentiful than copper.
The manufacturing process mentioned, high-vacuum CVD, is typically very expensive. You grow diamond layers this way, and I haven’t seen any iPhones with diamond coatings on the screen yet.
Hmm, going back to the New Scientist article, I see the thinking is that maybe they can find some way to dope up plain graphite and get the same chemistry to work. Er…maybe. Once they figure out what the chemistry is. Sounds like something to drop a $1 million high-vacuum surface science NSF grant into, and expect results back in 5-10 years.
I don’t see any real impact on space exploitation. The way we keep fumbling along with the space program (and even when things look to be building up they get diverted by the bunny kissers, welfare state advocates, AGW sycophants etc. etc.) I doubt my grandchildren will live long enough to see asteroid mining ever happen.
Of course if you could figure out some way for Pelosi/Reid to get campaign donations or some such from the space program then you’d have a whole new situation.
There is a long way between the lab and the manufacturing floor but I do hope that it works.
Computers are cheaper than house plumbing, and you think differently, you haven’t priced any plumbing lately.
Not on a per kilogram basis, Paul. Besides, I do my plumbing myself, so far, knock on wood.
Platinum still has loads of uses. Hydrogen fuel cells (of the PEM variety) are overrated though. My guess is we’ll see battery electrics take over while fuel cells will at best be used for stationary or large vehicles, even then these will probably use something like SOFC which works with higher density methane, or other denser fuels.