Intermetallic nickel, cobalt and copper alloy catalysts that could lower the cost of fuel cells enough to make them feasible for powering electric aircraft are to be created as part of a five-year, €41 million ($54.3 million) European Union programme.
Intermetallics are combinations of metals that have radically different crystalline structures to their constituent materials. The nickel, cobalt and copper alloy catalyst would solve a major problem with existing fuel cells that require the use of platinum as the catalyst, rendering the widespread use of fuel cells economically unfeasible. The nickel-cobalt-copper intermetallic alloy is viewed as a possible cost-effective substitute.
"We are looking for an alternative to platinum. We want some of its properties, but at a lower cost, and nickel, cobalt and copper alloys are a possible solution," says intermetallic project co-ordinator David Jarvis, who is based at the European Space Agency's (ESA) directorate of human spaceflight in the Netherlands.
The European Commission and ESA five-year project, of which Jarvis's catalyst research forms a part, includes experiments on the International Space Station (Flight International, 14-20 December 2004).
This project comes under the European Union's sixth framework research programme on nanotechnologies and nanosciences, knowledge-based multifunctional materials, new production processes and devices.
ROB COPPINGER / LONDON
Source: Flight International
