The stimulus for developing fuel cells and batteries

The search for cleaner, cheaper, smaller and more efficient energy technologies has been driven by recent developments in materials science and engineering. The aim of this collection of reviews is therefore to focus on what materials-based solutions can offer and to show how the rational design and improvement of chemical and physical properties of these materials can lead to energy alternatives that can compete with existing technologies [3]. 

The treatment in the present overview places emphasis on the roles ceramics and their processing are playing in two of the various alternative energy technologies. 

There is an extensive literature dealing with fuel cell and battery technologies and the interested reader has much choice. The monograph by N.Q. Minh and T. Takahashi [4] deals in depth with the science and technology of ceramic fuel cells, especially with the electroceramics aspects. The comprehensive texts by K. 

Kordesch and G. Simander [5] and J. Larminie and A. Dicks [6] deal more generally with fuel cell technologies and applications and that by D.A.J. Rand et al. [7] with batteries for electric vehicles. The web offers much information other recommended publications are identified during the course of the discussion. 

The imperative to lower greenhouse gas emissions and to achieve cleaner city and, indeed, global environments has stimulated the intensive research and development efforts directed to reducing reliance on the internal combustion engine for automotive power, and fossil fuel-powered electrical power generators. The effort is not only driven by the need to reduce the harmful effects of burning fossil fuels, but also by the knowledge that supply of these fuels is limited. 

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