Fuel cells through molecular recognition processes
First Claim
1. A fuel cell comprising an anode, a cathode and an electrolyte in contact with said anode and said cathode, wherein said anode comprises an anode material having a plurality of molecular recognition sites.
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Abstract
A novel fuel cell uses carbohydrates, alcohols or other organic fuels as its fuel to generate electricity via an electrochemical reaction. To catalyze the electrochemical reaction in the fuel cell and reduce the likelihood of the anode of being poisoned by by-products from the eletrochemical reaction and impurities in the fuel, an anode material with molecular recognition sites for the fuel is used in the fuel cell. The anode material is synthesized using a hydrothermal synthesis technique with the fuel as a template. A method of generating electricity using this fuel cell is also disclosed.
8 Citations
22 Claims
- 1. A fuel cell comprising an anode, a cathode and an electrolyte in contact with said anode and said cathode, wherein said anode comprises an anode material having a plurality of molecular recognition sites.
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7. A process to prepare an anode material for a fuel cell comprising the steps of:
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mixing a fuel, a complexing agent dissolved in a suitable solvent, and a material selected from the group consisting of metals, metal compounds and mixtures thereof to form a mixture;
heating said mixture to a suitable reaction temperature and for a suitable reaction time to form a metal complex in said mixtures;
cooling said mixture to form crystals in said mixture; and
separating said crystals from said mixture. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22)
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19. A method to generate electricity comprising the steps of:
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contacting a fuel with an anode which comprises sites which can interact with said fuel via molecular recognition sites on said anode;
contacting an oxidizing agent with a cathode which is in electrical contact with said anode via an electrolyte to generate an electric current.
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Specification