Indigenously developed platinum-based electro-catalyst could pave way for low-cost, durable fuel cells

What is the News?

Indian Scientists have indigenously developed platinum-based electrocatalysts for use in fuel cells through an efficient procedure.

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What are Fuel Cells, and what is their drawback?

Fuel cells are energy conversion devices that produce DC electricity from hydrogen with water as a byproduct. 

Drawback: Huge cost incurred from importing the components for fabricating the device. 

In particular, the platinum-based electrocatalyst, imported because of the lack of suitable indigenous technologies for their manufacture, plays an important role in increasing durability and decreasing fuel cell costs.

How have Indian Scientists overcome this drawback of fuel cells? 

Indian Scientists have indigenously developed platinum-based electrocatalysts for use in fuel cells through an efficient procedure. 

This electrocatalyst showed comparable properties to the commercially available electrocatalyst and could enhance the lifetime of the fuel cell stack performance.

Source: This post is based on an article “Indigenously developed platinum-based electro-catalyst could pave way for low-cost, durable fuel cells” published in PIB on 22nd March 2022