US scientists find low-cost catalyst for fuel cells

Cobalt nitride can be used as an electro-catalyst in alkaline fuel cells, Cornell University scientists say

US researchers have found a class of non-precious metal derivatives that can catalyse hydrogen fuel-cell reactions at a much lower cost than platinum. Cobalt nitride can be used in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) as an electro-catalyst in alkaline fuel cells. Cobalt is 475 times less expensive than platinum, which is conventionally used in fuel cells, says Professor Hector Abruna of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Cornell University. Most fuel cells are acidic. Abruna and his colleagues published their findings in a paper, titled ‘Nonprecious Transition Metal Nitrides as Efficient Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalysts for Alkaline Fuel Cells’, in the peer-reviewed journal