Colorado School of Mines

The Colorado School of Mines is developing a mixed proton and oxygen ion conducting electrolyte that will allow a fuel cell to operate at temperatures less than 500°C. By using a proton and oxygen ion electrolyte, the fuel cell stack is able to reduce coking – which clogs anodes with carbon deposits – and enhance the process of turning hydrocarbon fuels into hydrogen. Today’s ceramic fuel cells are based on oxygen-ion conducting electrolytes and operate at high temperatures. Mines’ advanced mixed proton and oxygen-ion conducting fuel cells will operate on lower temperatures, and have the capacity to run on hydrogen, ethanol, methanol, or methane, representing a drastic improvement over using only oxygen-ion conducting electrolytes. Additionally, the fuel cell will leverage a recently developed ceramic processing technique that decreases fuel cell manufacturing cost and complexity. Additionally, their technology will reduce the number of manufacturing steps from 15 to 3, drastically reducing the cost of distributed generation applications.

If successful, Mines’ unique architecture will enable fuel cells that operate at intermediate temperatures, run on affordable natural gas, and are less expensive to produce than existing technologies.