SMM11, March 8: manganese has long been known for making stainless steel and aluminum soda cans, and now researchers say the metal can boost one of the most promising renewable sources of energy: hydrogen fuel cells.
Lead author Dr. Gang Wu, associate professor of chemistry and bioengineering at the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, said that due to catalyst problems, we were unable to advance a large-scale hydrogen economy, but manganese is one of the most common elements in the earth's crust. It is widely distributed around the world and can finally solve this problem.
, Gang Wu has been looking for alternative catalysts for hydrogen fuel cells for more than a decade, experimenting with iron-based and cobalt-based catalysts, but he says they are not ideal. In a previous work, Gang Wu found that adding nitrogen to manganese leads to changes in the interior of the metal, making it a more stable element that can be used as a substitute for platinum and other metals. More importantly, the stability of the catalyst makes it possible for hydrogen fuel cells, and the technology is expected to be widely used in buses, cars and other modes of transport, as well as backup generators and other power sources.
Gang Wu said that it plans to continue its research, focusing on improving the carbon microstructure of the catalyst and the method of adding nitrogen, with the aim of further improving the performance of the catalyst in practical hydrogen fuel cells.
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