A team of researchers from the University of Central Florida claims to have found a way to make hydrogen fuels more efficient and cost effective.

Hydrogen fuel cells are electric cars that generate electricity by combining hydrogen gas with oxygen. The electricity generated fuels the car without the hassle of long charging times. Hydrogen fuel cells are a better alternative to internal combustion engines but they are far too expensive for most consumers to consider switching. Fuel cells need to be cheaper to be commercially viable. The researchers from UCF claim to have solved this by creating a sandwich-like structure that allows less expensive materials to be used as catalyst for hydrogen fuel cells.

Current hydrogen fuel cells use catalysts made of rare and expensive metal like platinum. Switching to a less expensive metal isn't feasible because most elements can't resist the corrosive process that converts hydrogen's chemical energy into electrical power. Only four elements are up to the task but platinum and iridium are both rare and expensive while gold and palladium don't stand up well with against the chemical reaction.

UCF Professor Sergey Stolbov and postdoctoral research associate Marisol Alcántara Ortigoza developed a structure that makes gold and palladium better for hydrogen fuel cells. They built a top layer of gold or palladium over a layer that enhances the energy conversion rate of the fuel cell that also protects the catalyst from the acidic environment. These two layers are placed on top of a layer made of inexpensive tungsten substrate which also acts to stabilize the catalyst.

"We are very encouraged by our first attempts that suggest that we can create two cost-effective and highly active palladium- and gold-based catalysts -for hydrogen fuel cells, a clean and renewable energy source," Stolbov said.

According to the researchers the structure they developed allows more energy to be converted while reducing the cost as more inexpensive metals are used. More experiments are needed to test if their structure has the potential for large-scale production. They are already working with a group within the U.S. Department of Energy to duplicate the results. Stolbov's work was recently published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters.