Word: fuel
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...next few years, largely on tennis-ball business. Meanwhile, he is working to convince tire manufacturers that by sealing their wheels with his technology instead of butyl rubber, the current sealant, they can produce tires that run cooler and safer, are lighter and increase a car's fuel efficiency. The U.S. Army has asked InMat to develop gloves that will protect soldiers from chemical agents. Goldberg's funding has come mostly from an angel investor and grants, which means he is still on the prowl for cash. "It's been a battle," he says. "It's still a battle...
Another impediment is the cost and supply of the platinum particles that catalyze, or kick off, the process. Think of them almost as matchmakers, encouraging every oxygen atom to mate with two hydrogens, releasing valuable energy with each reaction. That is the heart of the fuel cell...
...alternative to fossil fuel, everyone loves hydrogen fuel cells, which produce clean energy out of hydrogen and oxygen. But hydrogen, while abundant in the air, isn't widely available in refined form. And machines that run on hydrogen are equally scarce. Researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology have been working on the first problem, automakers on the second. The Tokyo group has developed a way to "crack" hydrogen, using a mesh of thin carbon fibers studded with molecules of a nickel compound. The filter breaks down natural gas into carbon and hydrogen that is pure enough...
Because of the current size of these catalyst particles, about 10 nm, and their tendency to clump together, platinum is not used efficiently. The world's entire annual output of platinum would not meet the demand if fuel cells were used by only 10% of cars produced worldwide. Hydrocarbon Technologies--which is owned by Headwaters, an alternative-energy company based in Draper, Utah--says it has found a way to create nanoscale platinum particles that won't clump together and slow down the process, as current ones do. The new particles are expected to keep fuel cells running...
OPEC has more than fuel cells to worry about from nanotechnology. Last month China's largest coal company licensed U.S. technology that will enable it to build a $2 billion coal-liquefaction plant in Inner Mongolia. The heart of this new technology is a gel-based nanoscale catalyst that improves the efficiency of coal conversion and reduces the cost of producing clean transportation fuels. If the technology lives up to its promise and can economically transform coal into diesel fuel and gasoline, coal-rich countries such as the U.S., China and Germany could depend far less on imported...