New methane fuel cell

The source articles are here and here.  BLUF:  A new catalyst could make methane fuel cells worth the effort.  It breaks down the methane into hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which when combined with free oxygen, produces a current.  It also produces water and carbon dioxide.

Of course, if you just burned the methane directly, it would also produce energy, carbon dioxide, and water.  You just confine the combustion in some sort of chamber.  If only we had a set of efficient designs for this sort of thing.  We could call it an internal combustion chamber!  And it could be used to turn a rotor to produce electricity!

Efficiency and simplicity are things, people.  If you have the methane, you already have a power source.  CH4 + 2xO2 => CO2 + 2xH2O

Oddly enough, the new fuel cell (with catalyst) will input CH4 + 2xO2, and output CO2 + 2xH2O.  If your inputs are the same, and your outputs are the same, the total energy production cannot increase.  All you can hope for is an increase in the efficiency of the engine design.