Advances in Materials for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells High Purity Metalorganic Precursors for CPV Fabrication Complex Hydrides: New Lithium Conductors Mechanochemical Effect of Severe Plastic Deformations

Aldrich brand products are sold through Sigma-Aldrich, Inc. Sigma-Aldrich, Inc. warrants that its products conform to the information contained in this and other Sigma-Aldrich publications. Purchaser must determine the suitability of the product for its particular use. See reverse side of invoice or packing slip for additional terms and conditions of sale. All prices are subject to change without notice. Introduction Welcome to the fourth and final installment of Material Matters™ for 2010, focusing on emerging technologies for Alternative Energy applications. The term Alternative Energy encompasses a wide range of technologies aimed at replacing fossil fuels with clean renewable energy sources such as solar power, hydrogen, biomass, wind, and hydropower, as well as adjacent areas of energy storage in batteries, hydrogen-rich media and electrical charge storage devices. Solar cells and photovoltaic (PV) modules, which convert solar radiation directly into electricity, represent one of the most attractive alternative approaches to electrical energy generation. Despite relatively high production costs, PV cells are becoming increasingly important, especially after recent discoveries of new high-performance materials comprised of multi-junction thin film systems. 1 Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) represent another approach to energy generation by producing electricity through the oxidation of hydrogen or carbon monoxide. The recent progress in the development of new SOFC materials has led to an overall reduction in costs for the electricity generated using these fuel cells and turned them into a viable energy source for a variety of stationary applications. In addition, since SOFCs have high optimum operating temperatures, ranging from 773 K to 1,273 K, 2 the heat produced during their operation can be utilized in conventional gas turbines, thus increasing the efficiency of the entire system to 70-75%. 3 The hydrogen required for different types of fuel cells can be generated remotely and saved in an appropriate form for later use. Metal hydrides represent one of the safest and most efficient ways to store hydrogen. 4 The ability of hydrogen absorbers to interact with gaseous hydrogen often depends on the manufacturing technique used for their preparation. A technique that has been widely used in the preparation of metallic hydrogen storage media is mechanical alloying, which produces high-surface area metal alloys with extremely high affinities towards hydrogen. It is worth noting that the use of metal hydrides for energy applications is not limited to hydrogen storage only. For example, lithium borohydride-based composites have proved to be quite efficient solid …