DMFC history
Fuel cells have been around for over 150 years. Sir William Robert Grove conceived the first fuel cell In 1839. Sir Grove was a Welsh gentleman, scientist and judge. His fuel cell used porous platinum electrodes and sulfuric acid as the electrolyte bath. His mixture of hydrogen and oxygen in the presence of an electrolyte produced electricity and water. Unfortunately, his invention didn't produce enough electricity to be useful.
In 1889, Ludwig Mond and his assistant Charles Langer, attempted to build a working fuel cell using air and industrial coal gas.
Around that time, a fuel cell constructed by William White Jaques (who incidentally coined the term fuel cell), substituted phosphoric acid in the electrolyte bath.
In the 1920s, fuel cell research in Germany paved the way to the development of the carbonate cycle and solid oxide fuel cells of today.
In 1932, Dr. Francis T. Bacon made a significant contribution to fuel research. Early cell designers used porous platinum electrodes and sulfuric acid as the electrolyte bath. Using platinum was expensive and using sulfuric acid was corrosive. Bacon used an inexpensive nickel electrode and a less corrosive alkaline electrolyte. It took Bacon until 1959 to perfect his design and demonstrated a five-kilowatt fuel cell that could power a welding machine. Francis T. Bacon, a direct descendent of the other well known Francis Bacon, named his famous fuel cell design the "Bacon Cell."
In October of 1959, Harry Karl Ihrig, an engineer for the Allis - Chalmers Manufacturing Company, demonstrated a 20-horsepower tractor that was the first vehicle ever powered by a fuel cell.
During the early 1960s, General Electric produced the fuel-cell-based electrical power system for NASA's Gemini and Apollo space capsules. General Electric used the principles found in the "Bacon Cell" as the basis of its design. Today, the Space Shuttle's electricity is provided by fuel cells, and the same fuel cells provide drinking water for the crew.
Dr. Lawrence H. DuBois of the U.S. Department of Defense and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) envisioned the development of a fuel cell that could operate on various types of liquid hydrocarbons (methanol, ethanol, etc.,). He called on Dr. Surya Prakash a world-renowned super acid specialist and Nobel laureate Dr. George A. Olah, both of the University of Southern California's Loker Hydrocarbon Institute to invent such a fuel cell. USC, in a collaborative effort with Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) / California Institute of Technology (Caltech) proceeded to invent the direct oxidation of liquid hydrocarbons subsequently coined as DMFC, Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Technology.
DTI acquired the exclusive worldwide license for Direct Oxidation of Liquid Hydrocarbons, DMFC Technology. DTI's President and CEO, Todd Marsh, saw the future impact that a clean alternative to fossil fuels was being born and offered to steward this technology and help commercialize it.
DMFC technology has become widely accepted as a viable fuel cell technology that offers itself to many applications.
