Tunnel vision alarm in search for more efficient hydrogen cells

A tenacious postdoc researcher persuaded Professor Marc Koper to research the oxygen reduction reaction. In Koper’s eyes, there was little of interest there. But they promptly discovered a whole new way to improve fuel cells on hydrogen and oxygen. Their article appeared in Nature Catalysis on 07 July.There are few hydrogen-powered cars driving around the Netherlands: one of them, a Toyota Mirai, is owned by Shell Nederland director Marjan van Loon. Marc Koper, Professor of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry: ‘She is one of the few who can actually fill up with hydrogen in the Netherlands, at Shell in Amsterdam.’Two important problemsToyota is working on better, more efficient fuel cells, in order to be able to introduce hydrogen driving on a large scale. But the technology has not advanced that far yet, as there are two major problems. Firstly, too much of the rare metal platinum…

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