Sterlitech Customer Highlight: The Electrifying Uses of Silver Membranes

October 24, 2012

At Sterlitech Corporation, we take great pride in producing the best laboratory filtration products on the market. It’s of one of our specialties, after all. But even we have to admit that filters aren’t always the most electrifying products to talk about. Until someone decides they should be. A team of chemists led by Anthony Kucernak, from the Imperial College London, decided to do exactly that in a study to determine if they could use Sterlitech’s silver membranes as electrodes and improve the performance of alkaline anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AAEMFC). AAEMFCs are a new twist on one the oldest and well-developed fuel cell technologies: the alkaline fuel cell. Owing to their nearly 70% power efficiency, NASA chose alkaline fuel cells to provide electricity with the Apollo missions and the Space Shuttle. AAEMFCs usually have electrodes made from carbon, but the performance of carbon electrodes in the cell tends to degrade because of unwanted secondary reactions. According to the study, using silver electrodes eliminates these unwanted reactions while delivering dramatically increased performance. Silver electrodes cost 3 times more than carbon ones but are 300 times more electrically conductive and 100 times more thermally conductive. This improvement in performance could allow AAEMFCs to play a significant role in reducing the consumption of fossil fuels by cars, boats, and even aircraft. To learn more about the work of Imperial College London’s Department of Chemistry, please visit them here. If you or your company has used any of Sterlitech’s products in an interesting or new application, please leave us a comment below. We would love the opportunity to showcase your hard work and innovation as one of Sterlitech’s Customer Highlights. Contributing Sources: Kucernak, Anthony, F. Bidault, and G. Smith. "Membrane Electrode Assemblies Based on Porous Silver Electrodes for Alkaline Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells."Electrochimica Acta 82 (2012): 284-90. Print. "Collecting the History of Alkali Fuel Cells." Collecting the History of Alkali Fuel Cells. Smithsonian Institution, 2009. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <https://americanhistory.si.edu/fuelcells/alk/alkmain.htm>. "Types of Fuel Cells." FCT Fuel Cells:. U.S. Department of Energy, 8 Mar. 2011. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <https://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/fuelcells/fc_types.html>