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Electrochemical Power 3
Electrochemical Power 3
Hybrid Vehicles
Mostly Electric Vehicles Require lower cost, higher energy density battery
All-Electric Vehicles Require lower cost, higher energy density, higher power density battery
Vehicular Batteries Are Widely Used; Vehicular Fuel Cells Are Widely Discussed
All batteries contain the anodic reactant , but not necessarily the cathodic reactant, which can be O2 In fuel cells, the anodic reactant is stored in an external reservoir The apparent, but not the true, power density of fuel cells is higher than that of batteries When the weight (or volume) of the reactantreservoir, plumbing and fuel pumps are added, fuel cells loose their apparent advantage
The successful fuel-efficient hybrid cars have batteries, not fuel cells
A High Risk, High Payoff Research Option: An Air Cathode for a Vehicular Battery
Proposed approach: Improve the efficiency, lessen the sensitivity to poisoning and reduce the cost of the O2-electroreduction catalysts by replacing the platinum alloys with nature-mimicking synthetic 3-Cu atom (or 3-Ag atom) cluster-based catalyst Impact: Air cathode would provide for a much lighter, much lower cost power system