Skip to Content

How Fuel-Cell Membranes Are Made

A new process increases the energy output of methanol fuel cells by 50 percent.
When the membrane is finished, a researcher gently peels it off and cuts it to size for testing.
A researcher sets the membrane in a device that can measure resistance and places it in a humidity chamber. In the chamber, tests are carried out to determine how efficiently protons can pass through the membrane.
If the membrane conducts protons well, a researcher prepares to test it in a fuel cell, placing it between two small, black, circular electrodes. A hot press is then used to seal them inside a square insulating gasket.
The researcher puts the membrane-electrode assembly in a fuel cell, between two graphite blocks. The blocks contain small channels that distribute methanol and air through the cell. Hammond’s team then measures the fuel cell’s efficiency under various conditions.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

How Rust went from a side project to the world’s most-loved programming language

For decades, coders wrote critical systems in C and C++. Now they turn to Rust.

The inside story of how ChatGPT was built from the people who made it

Exclusive conversations that take us behind the scenes of a cultural phenomenon.

Design thinking was supposed to fix the world. Where did it go wrong?

An approach that promised to democratize design may have done the opposite.

Sam Altman invested $180 million into a company trying to delay death

Can anti-aging breakthroughs add 10 healthy years to the human life span? The CEO of OpenAI is paying to find out.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.