Right now it looks little more than a chunk of kelp that washed up on a beach somewhere but trust me, its much more than that.
The formula Sony has developed uses the buckyballs arranged in clumps of eight. Sony is mixing them in a polymer to form a barrier that makes for thinner membranes. The goo helps stop the penetration of oxygen across the fuel cell’s membrane and stops methanol leakage, which in turn boosts the power density…or so the Sony boffins say.
Huh? Sounds like the oxygen doesn’t stand a chance at making little buckyballs, poor buggers. All kidding aside, this should help make fuel cells more efficient with a power density of about 100 milliwatt-hours per square centimeter.
[via Core77 ]