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Sunday, July 31, 2005 New Material for Fuel Cells Paul Kenis testing a microscale reformer. Credit: University of Illinois Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a material that can make reforming of hydrocarbon fuels more efficient. "These novel materials show great promise for the on-demand reforming of hydrocarbons such as diesel fuel into hydrogen for portable power sources," said Paul Kenis. For a material to be useful in a reformer it has to have a high surface area, be stable at high temperatures, and be easy to push the fuel through (have a low pressure drop). The material the team created has all of these properties. The design has been shown to strip hydrogen from ammonia at up to 1000°C. Allowing fuel for fuel cells to be stored in a safer and less volatile form could pave the way for fuel cells to be used commercially. (More info: University of Illinois) @ 18:06 EST