Ceramic art

An iron-oxide ceramic membrane could allow fuel cells to operate without losing efficiency as the temperature rises and the humidity drops.

This could benefit many fuel cell applications such as cars driven in extreme heat, submarines and remote weather stations.

Mark Wiesner, the project's lead researcher at North Carolina's

School of Engineering, said current polymer cell membranes only function efficiently in humid environments.

'If the polymer membrane dries out, its efficiency drops,' he said. 'We have developed a ceramic membrane made of iron nanoparticles that works at much lower humidities and higher temperatures.

'The efficiency of current membranes drops significantly at temperatures over 190ºF,' said Wiesner. 'However, the chemical reactions that create electricity are more efficient at high temperatures, so this advance would be a big improvement for fuel cell technology.'

Wiesner said a higher working temperature is better for fuel cells because it reduces the fouling of catalysts when there are impurities in the fuel.