Oct. 30, 2012: Patent Filed for Coating That Could Greatly Reduce the Cost of Fuel Cells
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — HyperSolar Inc., the developer of a technology to produce renewable hydrogen using sunlight and any source of water, announced that it has jointly filed a patent application with the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) for the “protection and stability of electroactive units used for production of fuels and chemicals.” According to the company, this new protective coating has the potential to dramatically reduce the cost of fuel cells.
“A big hurdle in our solar to hydrogen conversion process is the stabilization of the electrodes against photocorrosion,” said Tim Young, CEO of HyperSolar. “We recently developed an efficient and low cost protective polymer coating that allows for good electrical conductivity as well as preventing photocorrosion. This was a significant achievement for solar to hydrogen production. However, our continued research has revealed that this coating may offer broad benefits in many electrocatalysis applications, such as fuel cells.”