Cool fuel cells

A new kind of power source is being developed at the University of Houston that is so small yet so efficient it could make traditional power plants obsolete while greatly reducing the cost of electricity.

The source is a so-called ?cool? fuel cell, officially known as thin film solid oxide fuel cell, or SOFC, which originated from research at UH’s Texas Center for Superconductivity and Materials. The SOFC uses superconductivity and semiconductor concepts developed at UH and, by applying them to the fuel cell, UH researchers were able to significantly reduce operating temperatures which are a drawback to other fuel cells.

A traditional fuel cell can take up an entire room, while the thin film SOFCs are 1 micron thick and UH claims that a unit about the size of four sugar cubes would produce 80 watts of power, more than enough to operate a laptop computer, while one the size of two beer cans could power a house. This revolutionary technology has applications for residential, business and industrial consumers of electricity including ships. It is anticipated that the fuel cells will be ready for the testing phase of development within the next six months. That will be done through the Houston Advanced Research Center’s Center for Fuel Cell Research and Applications.