Kate Kelland reports that in a discovery that experts say could revolutionize fuel cell technology, scientists in Britain have found that graphene, the thinnest, strongest and most impermeable material, can allow protons to pass through it.The researchers, led by the Nobel prize winner and discoverer of graphene Andre Geim of Manchester University, said their finding also raised the possibility that, in future, graphene membranes could be used to sieve hydrogen gas from the atmosphere to then generate electricity. Graphene, the thinnest material on earth at just one atom thick, and 200 times stronger than steel, was first isolated in 2004 by Geim and fellow researchers, who were awarded a Nobel Prize in 2010 for their work. It is renowned for being impermeable to all gases and liquids, giving it the potential for a range of uses such as corrosion-proof coatings, impermeable packaging and even super-thin condoms.
Knowing that graphene is impermeable to even the smallest of atoms, hydrogen, the Geim team decided to test whether protons, or hydrogen atoms stripped of their electrons, were also repelled. Their work was published in the journal Nature. Against expectations, they found the protons could pass through the ultra-strong material fairly easily, especially at raised temperatures and if the graphene films were covered with nanoparticles such as platinum, which acted as a catalyst.
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