DuPont Enters Clean-Energy Fuel-Cell Market

DuPont Co. said it has formed a fuel-cell unit to capture a piece of the growing market for the clean-energy technology that the chemical giant expects to be worth $10 billion by the end of the decade. Fuel cells are battery-like devices that combine hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, heat and water. Wilmington, Del.-based DuPont said it will focus on proton-exchange, or PEM, fuel cells, which are primarily used in portable and small stationary power generators and transportation applications. DuPont said it will at first supply materials, including its Nafion membranes, which have been used in fuel cells for space travel for more than 35 years, and engineering polymers. DuPont later plans to supply fuel-cell system developers with other products, including PEM fuel-cell stack components such as membrane electrode assemblies and conductive plates. DuPont said it also is involved in the development of direct methanol fuel-cell technology.