Advanced Hydrogen Storage Technique to Improve the Run Time of the “Chip Integrated Micro PEM Fuel Cell System”

Abstract

In this work, we present the design, fabrication and characterization of increased hydrogen storage capacity of the silicon based Chip Integrated Micro Polymer electrolyte membrane Fuel Cell Systems (CIµ-PFCS), to increase the run time. The increased hydrogen storage capacity is realized from the backside of the silicon wafer and filling (casting process) it with a newly developed advanced hydrogen storage material, palladium - polymer composite. The functionality, current-time measurements, hydrogen charging capacity and charging behaviour of the newly developed hydrogen storage technique in the CIµ-PFCS are investigated and presented in this work. The developed CIµ-PFCS with increased hydrogen storage capacity and advanced hydrogen storage technique shows a factor of 4 increased run time than the state-off-the-art CIµ-PFCS. The power density of the developed CIµ-PFCS was measured to be 2.1 [mW/cm²]. After a number of charging and discharging cycles of CIµ-PFCs with the presented hydrogen storage materials, proved to be long term stable. The advantage of the presented CIµ-PFCS is that there is an increased hydrogen storage volume on board and easy to fabricate with existing microsystem technologies.