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Direct Methanol Fuel Cells: From a TwentiethA
Century Electrochemist’s Dream to aA
Twenty-first Century
Emerging TechnologyA

Claude Lamy, Jean-Michel Léger, and
Supramaniam Srinivasan *

o
Laboratory of Electrocatalysis, UMRpCNRS N 6503, Université de Poitiers, Poitiers
Cédex, France

I. A SYNOPSIS OF FUEL CELLA
TECHNOLOGIES—BACKGROUND

1. Energy Conservation and Environmental Friendliness-the
Incentive for Fuel Cell DevelopmentA
The fuel cell is a nineteenth centuryinvention; in the twentieth century it
became the “heart” of an electrochemical power plant and power source,
which is now in a stage of advanced technology development.= Its first and
only application since the early 1960s, has been as an auxiliary power
source for space flights by the National Aeronautics and Space Admini-
stration (NASA). During the past decade, development for terrestrial
(civilian and defense) applications has led to its commercialization and
research on utilization in a variety of applications.= Programs in the United
States, Japan, Europe, and some other countries are focused on the
development of fuel cell power plant/power sources for (1) base-load,
*Present address: Center for Energyand Environmental Studies, Princeton University,
Princeton, NJ, 08544–5263.

Modem Aspects of Electrochemistry, Number 34, edited by John O’M. Bockris et al.
Kluwer Academic /PlenumPublishers, New YoÀ, 2001.

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