Co-author Professor Hamid Al - Megren, from the Materials Research Institute at KACST, said: «This is an exciting development — it will allow society to utilise fossil fuels or renewable - derived wax to generate on - board hydrogen
for fuel cell applications without releasing any carbon dioxide into the air.»
For example, infrastructure being developed for alternative fuels such as natural gas, as well
as fuel cell applications including combined heat and power, backup power and fuel cell forklifts, can help pave the way for mainstream hydrogen vehicle infrastructure.
Dr. Autrey's current research interests are focused on materials and approaches to hydrogen storage for small power and on -
board fuel cell applications.
Like electricity, hydrogen can be derived from many sources and can drive
many fuel cell applications, which fuel cells can deliver alot of power and be miniaturized.
The country has also faced a series of rolling electricity load - shedding incidents and there is greater caution about the use of nuclear power owing to the Fukushima accident in Japan, spurring interest in both large -
scale fuel cell applications and residential fuel cell micro-CHP.
As weight and size do not pose serious limitations for
stationary fuel cell applications, there is good reason to be optimistic that the potential for stationary fuel cells will be realized long before mobile commercial applications become widespread.
Some of the other projects involve the development of proton exchange membrane
for fuel cell application, a gyroscope based on micro-electromechanical technology and research on innovative engineering materials to fabricate ceramic membranes that can partially oxidize methane to syngas used as feedstock in commercial methanol production.
One typical example is using SCF to deposit platinum nanoparticles and other catalysts on carbon nanotube supports for
fuel cell applications.