Curcumin and gold nanoparticles key to ethanol fuel cells

This is the claim of researchers at the Clemson Nanomaterials Institute (CNI), South Carolina and their collaborators from the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning (SSSIHL) in India.

While the research team need to do more testing, the discovery could eventually lead to hydrogen being replaced as a fuel cell feedstock.

“Of all the catalysts for alcohol oxidation in alkaline medium, the one we prepared is the best so far,” said Apparao Rao, CNI’s founding director and the RA Bowen Professor of Physics in the Clemson's College of Science.

Hydrogen is the most common chemical element in the universe, but it must be derived from substances including natural gas and fossil fuels because it occurs naturally on Earth only in compound form. The necessary extraction adds to hydrogen fuel cells’ cost and environmental impact.