The Christian Friedrich Schönbein medal is given in honor of the chemist who discovered the fuel cell effect, which was first realized by William Grove in 1839. This year at the 7^th European Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Forum this award was given to the research group of Prof. Ludwig Gauckler at ETH Zürich to reward the contribution of this group to the solid oxide fuel cell development.

"œI congratulate my co-workers, who have been very active and successful over year in the material development for solid oxide fuel cells"?, says Gauckler. "œThe Schönbein medal acknowledges their achievements on an international level"?. A new way of modeling the electrode reactions in fuel cells by Andreas Mitterdorfer, Anja Bieberle-Hütter and Michel Prestat lead to a deeper understanding of the electrochemical reactions of gases at solid interfaces. The HEXIS solid oxide fuel cell has benefited from these results in the last years.

"œPortable Power Plants"?

"œCurrently our research aims at the miniaturization of fuel cells, in order to integrate them in portable electronic devices"?, Gauckler explains. Therefore, nano scaled materials on the form of ultra thin films are under development and characterization at Nonmetallic Inorganic Materials at ETH Zürich, the group of Prof. Gauckler. Several ETH researchers are involved in this project: Ulrich Peter Mücke, Daniel Beckel, Jennifer Rupp, Brandon Bürgler and Anna Infortuna. The EPFL is amongst others also involved in this research, namely the group of Paul Muralt and Nava Setter.

See also the press release in ETH life.