Borosulfates (IMAGE) Naval Research Laboratory Caption Borosulfates are a unique class of compounds that are formed when, under special conditions, borates and sulfates are "forced" to form new bonds and lose water in the process of making polymeric anionic chains. Borosulfates are a part the "solid acid" class of compounds that have been leveraged to develop Solid Acid Fuel Cells (SAFCs) by SAFCell, Inc., but are different in that the anions in borosulfates are bound together, producing a combination of attractive new properties. NRL has found that borosulfates that specifically exhibit one-dimentional anionic chains (as seen in the accompanying figure) have very special properties that produce a very low barrier to proton transport within the crystal in combination with relatively high thermal stability and good tolerance for both wet and dry conditions at target fuel cell operating temperature. This makes one-dimentional borosulfates, such as ammonium borosulfate, an attractive alternative to current state-of-the-art solid acid electrolytes. Credit U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Usage Restrictions No restrictions. License Public Domain Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.