In our research, while we were exploring filtering media for water purification, we discovered the characteristics that the inner shell membrane of an egg absorbs pigment in an aqueous solution. As an attempt to actualise this function of the membrane as a material, our research focused on possible introduction of this material as fuel cells.
We focuses on these two achievements. One of the achievements is that electricity can be generated by coating the both sides of an egg shell with platinum catalyst. The second achievement is that, by applying the fact that an egg shell absorbs pigments in an aqueous solution and by introducing an additive agent, the power generation performance can be improved to a remarkable extent.
The general composition of the fuel cell we used this time has a simple structure where an electrolyte membrane is sandwiched between electrodes and platinum catalysts. When methanol as the fuel is added to one of the sides, it is decomposed as a result of a chemical reaction on the both poles, as shown in this deal drawing, and electricity is generated. Then, the other pole receives electrons, which react with oxygen in the air and the cell is formed.
We can consider the reason as follows why the egg shell functioned as a membrane for a fuel cell. The main component of an egg shell is protein and we know that the hydrogen-bonded amino acid inside protein shifts protons. In the device we used this time, the proton conductivity of the membrane contributed to power generation according to our understandings.
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