MIT宣布发现用于燃料电池的新材料，提升便携设备燃料电池50%的功率输出

麻省理工学院研究者称通过更新燃料电池的内部材料，可将便携式消费电子产品所用燃料电池的功率输出提高50%。

化学工程Bayer（乙酰水杨酸的乙酰衍生物）教授兼MIT研发小组带头人Paula Hammond在本周三发表的一份声明中表示：“我们的目标是用这类成本有效、调节方便、性能更佳的材料取代传统燃料电池的薄膜。”

MIT研究小组主要关注直接甲醇燃料电池(DMFC)，这类燃料电池采用甲醇作为燃料，而不必要将乙醇（酒精）提纯成氢来作为燃料。

目前DMFC的使用范围尚受到一定限制。因甲醇能渗透两电极间用作电解交换的Nafion膜，渗透至燃料电池的中心，从而导致燃料的浪费。

据研究人员称，通过采用层-层组装技术，MIT研究人员发明了一种可取代Nafion的材料。并且可以调节薄膜的结构（每次几纳米）。新型薄膜抗甲醇渗透能力提高了两个等级，但是质子传导率比Nafion要好。

研究人员在Nafion质子交换膜上包了一层新型薄膜并将其用于一块DMFC，结果发现燃料电池的功率输出上升了50%。

该研究小组称其现在正着手研究这种新型质子薄膜是否能够取代Nafion膜。出于这种考虑，他们已经单独生产这种薄膜，这种薄膜在材质上更像是保鲜膜。

作为MIT能源研究的一部分，该小组亦已开始研究这种材料在光电方面的用途。

DuPont-MIT联盟曾对MIT的燃料电池研究提供资金支持，但目前这项研究由国家科学基金提供支持。

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MIT team claims new fuel cell material

MIT researchers said they have improved the power output of one type of fuel cell by more than 50 percent. Their goal: portable electronics.

"Our goal is to replace traditional fuel-cell membranes with these cost-effective, highly tunable and better-performing materials," Paula Hammond, Bayer Professor of chemical engineering and leader of the research team, said in a statement released Thursday (May 15).

Hammond's team focused on direct-methanol fuel cells (DMFCs), in which the methanol is used as the fuel, eliminating the need to distill alcohol to hydrogen as a fuel.

Current DMFCs have limitations. Nafion, the material currently used for the electrolyte sandwiched between the electrodes, is permeable to methanol, allowing seepage across the center of the fuel cell, thereby wasting fuel.

The MIT researchers created an alternative to Nafion using a layer-by-layer assembly technique. They were able to tune the structure of their film a few nanometers at a time. The resulting thin film is two orders of magnitude less permeable to methanol, but compares favorably to Nafion in proton conductivity, according to the researchers.

The researchers coated a Nafion membrane with the new film and incorporated it into a DMFC. The result was an increase in power output of more than 50 percent.

The team said it is now exploring whether the new film could be used to replace Nafion. To that end, they have been generating thin films that stand alone, with a consistency much like plastic wrap.

The team has also begun exploring the new material's use in photovoltaics as part of the MIT Energy Initiative.

The fuel cell research was supported by the DuPont-MIT Alliance. It is currently supported by the National Science Foundation.