Proton exchange membranes (PEMs) play an important role in the fuel cell systems. A good PEM must meet a series of requirements such as high proton conductivity, excellent mechanical strength and stability, chemical and electrochemical stability, low fuel crossover, etc. Nafion is currently the most commercially utilized electrolyte membranes for polymer electrolyte fuel cells, with high chemic...

We have successfully fabricated hydrogen–air micro proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) on silicon and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) base substrates. A complete fuel cell system was fabricated consisting of a PDMS substrate with micro flow channels upon which the membrane electrode assembly was vertically stacked. The PDMS microreactor was fabricated by soft lithography techniques. The mem...

A laboratory combustor was used to investigate the factors that influence the conversion of fuel nitrogen in coal during coal combustion. Fuel NO was isolated by experimentation utilizing Argon/Oxygen/Carbon Dioxide mixtures as the oxidant, and care was taken to compare cases with air at matched conditions. For both well mixed and slowly mixed flame types, fuel NO contributed over 75% of the to...

OBJECTIVE To quantify the effects of a thermostatic control system in social (public) housing on the prevalence of dangerous (>60°C) water temperatures and on fuel consumption. DESIGN Pair-matched double-blind cluster randomised controlled trial. SETTING Social housing in a deprived inner-London borough. PARTICIPANTS 150 households recruited as clusters from 22 social housing estates. Fou...

Wildfire risks for California under four climatic change scenarios were statistically modeled as functions of climate, hydrology, and topography. Wildfire risks for the GFDL and PCM global climate models and the A2 and B1 emissions scenarios were compared for 2005–2034, 2035–2064, and 2070–2099 against a modeled 1961–1990 reference period in California and neighboring states. Outcomes for the G...

Preliminary studies of used fuel generated in the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative have indicated that current used fuel transport casks may be insufficient for the transportation of said fuel. This work considers transport of three 5-year-cooled oxide Advanced Burner Reactor used fuel assemblies with a burn-up of 160 MWD/kg. A transport cask designed to carry these asse...

Exposing uranium-molybdenum alloys (UMo) retained in the γ phase to elevated temperatures leads to transformation reactions during which the γ-UMo phase decomposes into the thermal equilibrium phases, i.e. U2Mo and α-U. Since α-U is not suitable for a nuclear fuel exposed to high burn-up, it is necessary to retain the γ-UMo phase during the production process of the fuel elements for modern hig...

The influence of the initial fuel temperature on the burning behavior of n-heptane pool fire was experimentally studied at the State Key Laboratory of Fire Science (SKLFS) large test hall. Circular pool fires with diameters of 100mm, 141 mm, and 200 mm were considered with initial fuel temperatures ranging from 290 K to 363 K. Burning rate and temperature distributions in fuel and vessel wall w...

The broad health effects of fuel poverty include both the physiological and psychosocial effects of exposure to adverse indoor temperatures. Fuel poverty poses a greater risk to groups spending more time at home, including older people, people with disabilities or chronic illness, and families with young children. To date, fuel poverty research has focused on the first two of these groups, whil...