Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells often underperform due to high overpotentials caused by sluggish kinetics. Specifically, the Pt-catalyzed oxygen reduction reaction at the cathode renders the energy efficiency well below the thermodynamic limit.
Engineers in Prof. Fritz Prinz's laboratory have developed a low cost, scalable method to fabricate anti-reflective, highly conductive metal silicide nanowires electrodes for photovoltaic cells.