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The so-called Solid-Oxide fuel cell comes from the Energy and Environmental Systems Laboratories of NTT, a Japanese telecoms company we've come across before.
Scale the key
Residing in the 1-kilowatt class, the new cell is for an office or small factory, rather than a house, but could be developed in the domestic direction if needed.
The material inside the new cell is a lanthanum-nickel-iron oxide compound, which allows NTT to build it sufficiently large to deliver substantial quantities of energy.
Years of electricity
Older cells of this type relied on zirconium, a material that restricted cell size and capacity as it could not be scaled up.
If the device is ever commercialised - NTT has no plans yet - uptimes measured in years, rather than hours, have a clear appeal for an oil-free future.
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