Nation

Europeans developing a promising fuel cell

European researchers have reported progress on a fuel cell that generates electricity through a living enzyme rather than a synthetic material, raising the potential for smaller and cheaper power supplies. The discovery involves the use of enzymes known as hydrogenases, which exist in microscopic life forms, said Fraser Armstrong, a professor of inorganic chemistry at the University of Oxford in England. The hydrogenases have a natural ability to make electrical power from hydrogen even in the presence of oxygen, Armstrong said. That allows the creation of a fuel cell in which the hydrogen and oxygen are together in a single container, without a synthetic membrane to guide the reaction, he said. "It's a proof of concept that you can run a hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell without a membrane," Armstrong said of his findings, published Monday by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A fuel cell generates power by combining hydrogen and oxygen to produce energy and water. The efficiency and lack of polluting emissions from fuel cells have companies and researchers examining a variety of applications, including power for batteries, automobiles and office buildings. Armstrong said his group's research could lead to fuel cells that don't need bulky and expensive membranes such as the Nafion polymer developed by DuPont Co.