US firm PolyFuel has received a prestigious seal of approval for the design and manufacture of its advanced fuel cell membranes.

The membranes have been given the ISO-9001 Standard, developed by the International Organisation for Standards, which represents the benchmark by which modern, quality products are designed and manufactured.

ISO-9001 certification, issued by the Underwriters Laboratories, makes PolyFuel one of the earliest suppliers in the nascent fuel cell industry to achieve the standard of quality for the product design and manufacturing processes that will be required for mass commercialisation.

The membranes can be used in direct methanol fuel cells designed for portable electrical devices such as laptop computers, PDAs and mobile phones, a fuel cell market that is set to gain momentum in early 2007.

PolyFuel's DMFC membrane is 62 microns thick and uses a pgm catalyst coated membrane.

The anode uses 6mg of a platinum and ruthenium, while the cathode contains a platinum loading of 4mg.

The company's fuel cell membranes are cheaper partly because they use 30 to 35 per cent less pgm catalyst than other membranes.

Ÿ Adfero Ltd