Wire in the fuel

University of Rochester researchers have created long platinum nanowires they claim could be used to develop commercially viable fuel cells.

The platinum nanowires produced by James C M Li, a professor of mechanical engineering, and his graduate student Jianglan Shui are roughly 10 nanometres in diameter and also centimetres in length - long enough to create a web of pure platinum that can serve as an electrode in a fuel cell.

By a process known as electrospinning - a technique used to produce long, ultra-thin solid fibres - Li and Shui were able to create the platinum nanowires, which are thousands of times longer than any previous such wires.

Within a fuel cell, a catalyst facilitates the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen, splitting compressed hydrogen fuel into electrons and hydrogen ions.

Electrons are then routed through an external circuit to supply power, while the hydrogen ions combine with electrons and oxygen to form the waste product, typically water.