Student shows heat-treated anodes can boost fuel-cell power

Tartu Jaan Poska Gymnasium student Laura-Maria Liiv found that an aluminium-air fuel cell can achieve higher power density with specially treated anodes than previously reported in scientific literature, ERR reports in an article by Pille Säälik and University of Tartu physical chemistry researcher Tavo Romann.

Liiv’s research found that improvements to the long-established aluminium-air fuel cell can significantly increase its efficiency and power. The article says treating new anodes at the right temperature can improve performance.

An aluminium-air fuel cell generates electricity through a reaction involving aluminium, water and air, producing aluminium hydroxide or an aluminium-containing compound called an aluminate. The article says such cells are attracting more research because their energy density is higher than that of lithium-ion batteries and the magnesium- and zinc-based metal-air batteries most widely studied.

Unlike batteries and conventional cells, which contain the chemical compounds needed to produce electricity, a fuel cell receives its oxidising agent, air, and reducing agent, fuel, continuously.

In batteries, chemical energy is stored using an anode, a cathode and an electrolyte. The anode releases electrons into an external circuit as the battery discharges, while the cathode takes them in. The electrolyte allows ions to move between the components.