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by DRONELIFE Staff Author Ian J. McNabb
Hydrogen powered drones offer many significant advantages for the industry, including longer flight times and nil emissions. Hydrogen drones solve a few of the challenges that batteries present, but hydrogen fuel cells have some challenges of their very own: comparable to durability, performance degradation over time, and limited operating temperatures. Latest research is rapidly working to deal with these issues, not just for drones but for a lot of sorts of vehicles.
A joint research team between Incheon University, based in Seoul, South Korea, and Harvard University recently announced an exciting latest development on this planet of hydrogen fuel cells, improving their durability through latest fatigue-resistant membranes.
Hydrogen fuel cells require electrolyte membranes to divide the electrodes, which enable the flow of electricity through a substance. These essentially act as a gate, allowing protons through while inhibiting electrons, hydrogen molecules, and oxygen molecules. Nevertheless, as a consequence of inconsistencies in operation (comparable to various speeds), this membrane undergoes expansions and contractions which may cause deformations or cracks, ultimately resulting in operational failure as a consequence of undesirable hydrogen movement. While there have been advances in membrane technology (including free scavengers and hydrocarbon electrolyte membranes), these flaws still significantly limit the lifespan of hydrogen fuel cells.
Nevertheless, by introducing an interpenetrating network of Nafion, (a plastic electrolyte), and a rubbery polymer called perfluoropolyether (PFPE), the researchers consider they’ve found an answer that may vastly increase the lifespan and functionality of fuel cells. While the brand new combination (a 50% saturation of PFPE combined with the electrolyte) isn’t quite as performant as non-PFPE membranes, the brand new composite membrane is 175% more fatigue-resistant and offers a lifespan of as much as 1.7x that of existing models with acceptable electrochemical performance.
Associate Professor Sang Moon Kim from Incheon University said, “To make sure the long-term stable operation of fuel cells, it is crucial to develop an electrolyte membrane with high resistance to repetitive fatigue failure that reflects the actual operating environment and degradation technique of fuel cells. In our study, we utilized an interpenetrating network to intentionally distribute repetitive stress.”
The long-term impact of this development might not be seen today, but in the long term, the brand new technology could have a big impact on industries from hydrogen cars, to UAVs, to eVTOLs.
“Moreover, the strategy for enhancing fatigue resistance may be prolonged and applied to ion filters, battery separators, and actuation systems. This enables for broad application in high-durability, long-life desalination filters, flow battery separators, lithium metal battery separators, and artificial muscles,” envisions Dr. Kim.
More information on the study is accessible here.
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