Fuelling the next generation
of hybrid cars

Scientists have revolutionised the design of fuel cells used in the latest generation of hybrid cars, which could make the vehicles more reliable and cheaper to build.

The design of the electrically-generated fuel cell includes a specially-coated form of popular high tech outdoor and sporting clothing material Gore-Tex®.

A fine layer -- just 0.4 of a micron thick, or about 100 times thinner than a human hair -- of highly conductive plastic is deposited on the breathable fabric. The conductive plastic acts as both the fuel cell electrode and catalyst.

Dr Bjorn Winther-Jensen said just as the material had revolutionised the outdoor clothing industry, it could hold similar promise for motorists.

"The same way as waste vapour is drawn out of this material to make hikers more comfortable and less prone to hypothermia, so it is able to 'breathe' oxygen into our fuel cell and into contact with the conductive plastic," Dr Winter-Jensen said.

Professor Doug MacFarlane from the Australian Centre for Electromaterials Science said the new design removed the need for platinum in fuel cells, which acts as the catalyst and is currently central to the manufacturing process.

"Our reliance on platinum and its cost is making the likelihood of using fuel cells in everyday passenger cars, increasingly improbable."

"The team has come up with an alternative fuel cell design that is more economical, more easily sourced, outlasts platinum cells and is just as effective."