Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and partner institutions have developed a new platinum-cobalt catalyst design that could improve the durability and efficiency of low-temperature fuel cells, potentially supporting power generation for data centres.
The technology uses platinum-cobalt nanoparticles confined within hollow carbon nanochannels, helping prevent the nanoparticles from clumping or degrading during operation. Platinum is widely used as a fuel-cell catalyst because of its high catalytic performance but its cost remains a key challenge. Accordingly, the new catalyst maintained around 85% of its performance during testing designed to simulate 25,000 hours of operation.
The development could have implications for platinum demand if fuel cells become more widely adopted for distributed power generation. This is particularly relevant as data-centre electricity consumption is expected to rise significantly with growing digital and AI infrastructure. However, further development and commercial validation will be required before large-scale deployment.
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