QuantumSphere Gets Funding for Methanol Fuel Cell Technology

QuantumSphere, Inc., a developer of advanced catalyst materials, high performance electrodes, and related technologies and systems for portable power and clean-energy applications, today announced that it has been awarded a grant by the United States Army for the development of advanced fuel cell technology that improves efficiency, integration and portability and reduces costs for portable power applications.

Under the Army Small Business Innovation Research Program, QuantumSphere will develop a unitised reformed methanol fuel cell. In the first, nine-month phase of the project, the company will be awarded $120,000 to investigate the synthesis and electrochemistry of bifunctional anodes, high temperature electrolyte membranes and low-cost cathode catalysts for a 5W fuel cell.

If successful, QuantumSphere will move to the second phase of the project, a two-year $750,000 effort to develop a 200W methanol reforming fuel cell in a smaller, lighter form factor to power portable electronic devices in the Army’s Future Force Warrior program. The fuel cell is intended to help soldiers operate portable electronic devices without the noise and heat signatures produced by diesel generators.

Source: Fuel Cell Today