| 查看: 603 | 回复: 0 | |||||
wangchun8ha木虫 (职业作家)
|
[交流]
【讨论】瑞士和意大利科学家开发出新奇有机金属燃料电池
|
|
The fine art of producing chemicals and electricity: Researchers develop organometallic fuel cell December 16, 2010 Prototype of the organometallic fuel cell (Photo: Peter Rüegg / ETH Zurich) Together with Italian researchers, Swiss ETH Zurich Professor Hansjorg Grutzmacher and his group have developed a novel organometallic fuel cell. In addition to generating electrical energy, it also produces fine chemicals from renewable raw materials – with no waste. Hansjörg Grützmacher holds a rectangular device made of transparent plastic, a little bigger than a fist. There is a rectangular recess on the front and two connections protrude from the top, one gold-coloured, the other silver. Two oversized-looking clamps hold together the two halves that make up the device. What you cannot tell from looking at this device is that it is the prototype of a novel so-called organometallic fuel cell, which Grützmacher’s group has developed in collaboration with an Italian research team. ”This fuel cell won’t solve the world’s energy problems,” says the ETH Zurich professor, “But I think the fact that it can be used to make fine chemicals from renewable raw materials with no waste products is an enormous step forward.” The new fuel cell’s achievement is really extraordinary. Firstly, it allows fine chemicals to be manufactured with no waste, while secondly it also generates CO2-free electrical energy. The aim of an environmentally friendly chemical industry must be to produce chemicals while creating less waste products or none at all, because according to Grützmacher, some of the these may be rather toxic and their disposal is therefore expensive and problematic. The operating principle of the new organometallic fuel cell is entirely different to that of previous types. It is based on a special molecular complex containing the metal rhodium. This complex is molecularly embedded in the anode material. The anode of a fuel cell absorbs liberated charges and transfers them to the cathode, which releases them again. This process generates an electric current. The special feature of the organometallic fuel cell is that the molecular complex in the anode acts as a catalyst and its function can easily be optimised. The anode’s support material is carbon powder, to which the molecular complex is applied as a fine dispersion. The active catalyst forms and changes progressively while the chemical reaction is taking place in the fuel cell. As a result, various catalysts specific to the individual reaction steps are formed from the metal complex. Thus an alcohol such as ethanol is converted into a corresponding aldehyde, and in the next step it is turned into the corresponding carboxylic acid, e.g. acetic acid. However, the use of this special catalyst enables not only alcohols but also sugars such as glucose to be transformed. The raw materials, i.e. the alcohols used, can be natural fermentation products or by-products from bio-diesel manufacture. Fuel Cell & Electrolyser - For Education and Demonstration NEW Website - NEW Products - www.h-tec.com The chemists already knew that such reactions were possible. However, in these reactions Grützmacher and his colleagues needed to use a “sacrificial molecule”, which “absorbs” the hydrogen molecule formally created in the reaction. The inspirational idea to bypass this problem occurred to the ETH Zurich professor and his Italian colleague Claudio Bianchini while they were picking olives in Tuscany: an electrode, the anode, could be used instead of the sacrificial molecule to absorb the charges from the reaction and to convert them directly into electricity. Hansjörg Grützmacher thinks the organometallic fuel cell has great potential. In an experimental context, for example, 1,2-propanediol, a dialcohol obtained from renewable raw materials, could be converted very selectively into lactic acid. Lactic acid is produced industrially on a large scale for use in the manufacture of biodegradable polymers. The only problem is that for every ton of lactic acid, most processes create approximately one ton of calcium sulphate, which requires expensive disposal. In contrast, the novel fuel cell leaves no residue when it converts the raw material. However, Grützmacher also envisages other applications. The organometallic fuel cell could be miniaturised to power heart pacemakers. It could also contribute to reducing the metal demand of catalysts. Their construction often uses rare earths or noble metals such as platinum. The latter is not only expensive but also scarce. “If we succeed in constructing a catalyst molecularly, that would considerably improve the material efficiency,” stresses the ETH Zurich chemist. He says that the aim is to develop a fuel cell whose electrodes manage without metals, or at least use only abundant metals. Candidates include manganese, iron or cobalt, for example. Up to now the researchers have used rhodium in the organometallic fuel cells. Although this metal is often used in present-day catalysts, its availability is limited. However, the organometallic fuel cell also has its disadvantages. The chemical reactions proceed more slowly than in solution because, due to a fuel cell’s construction, they only take place on surfaces. This is why the manufacture of larger quantities of fine chemicals will take longer than manufacturing in the conventional way. In addition, for the time being the system only functions with aqueous solutions. “However, the use of non-aqueous solvents is also conceivable, but we are only at the very beginning, and in the near future we really must first of all understand how a change in the process parameters affects the overall efficiency,” says Grützmacher. More information: A Biologically Inspired Organometallic Fuel Cell (OMFC) that Converts Renewable Alcohols into Energy and Chemicals, S. P. Annen, V. Bambagioni, M. Bevilacqua, J. Filippi, A. Marchionni, W. Oberhauser, H. Schönberg, F. Vizza, C. Bianchini, H. Grützmacher, Angew. Chem. 2010, 7387–7391; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 2010, 7229–7233. Provided by ETH Zurich 呵呵，不会转移帖子，只好复制，分享一下 [ Last edited by zlin on 2010-12-20 at 18:58 ] |
回复此楼» 收录本帖的淘帖专辑推荐
 新能源 | 材料合成001淘帖 |
» 猜你喜欢
Renlab@monash全奖博士机会，最后三天！
已经有0人回复
-
今年面上没有消息，想来是没了，散个金攒攒人品，为明年祈福
已经有698人回复
-
物理化学论文润色/翻译怎么收费?
已经有217人回复
-
合肥工业大学854仪器技术综合专业课考研
已经有0人回复
-
27年电化学博士毕业，想找海外QS前50的高校读博后求推荐
已经有3人回复
-
27年电池/材料类博士申请
已经有2人回复
-
2027年博士申请或转博科研助理 求推荐
已经有1人回复
-
请问谁有2025最新影响因子Excel表？金币求助！
已经有53人回复
-
氯化钠与有机磺酸分离
已经有0人回复
找到一些相关的精华帖子，希望有用哦~
电池门总结
已经有16人回复
- 国外锂离子电池大牛---一个个来，慢慢统计，个人能力有限，有资源的同志一起努力
已经有296人回复
- 自己总结的关于锂离子电池的基础知识及研究现状
已经有894人回复
- 封口的低温溶剂
已经有5人回复
- 学燃料电池方向的出路
已经有21人回复
- nature chemistry最新：设计过渡金属氧化物燃料电池催化剂替代Pt
已经有161人回复
- 【行业资讯】NASA开发出直接甲醇燃料电池样机
已经有12人回复
- 美国研究所开发出无铂的燃料电池电极，可大幅降低成本
已经有13人回复
- 美研制出新型氢燃料电池催化剂--非贵金属铂的新型氢燃料电池催化剂
已经有24人回复
- 【求助】太阳能电池的I-V测试时的奇怪I-V曲线
已经有11人回复
- 【交流】太阳能电池材料、锂电池材料和固体氧化物燃料电池材料中：哪个方向更容易出科
已经有34人回复
- 【求助】SOFC此种燃料电池是否有发展前景
已经有31人回复
- 【交流】看完钢铁侠2，好奇以后能否做出电池大小的核反应堆？
已经有9人回复
点击这里搜索更多相关资源科研从小木虫开始，人人为我，我为人人
