219f A Hybrid-Silicon Miniature Hydrogen Fuel Cell for Portable Power Generation

Robert D. Morgan¹, Kevin Y. Lin¹, Hee Soo Kim¹, Bogdan Gurau¹, Mark Shannon², and Richard I. Masel¹. (1) Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 S. Mathews Ave, RAL 204, Urbana, IL 61801, (2) Mechanical Engineering, University of Illinois, 1206 W Green St, Urbana, IL 61801

The objective of this talk is to describe a 1mm^2 hybrid hydrogen / self-breathing cathode fuel cell that produces a higher power output than other previously reported miniature hydrogen fuel cells. As background, MEMS based fuel cells have been proposed to replace batteries in distributed sensor networks, on chip power, and implantable devices. As of yet, MEMS based fuel cells give performance no better than miniature batteries [1-9]. Prior to our work, the best MEMS based hydrogen/air fuel cell only produced 70 mW/cm2 compared to 149 mW/cm2 in our device. Yu et al[2] showed 195 mW/cm2 by running pure oxygen on the cathode, but note that powers are 4-5 times higher with oxygen than with air. Our device shows the highest power output of those shown previously.

__________________

1. Pichonat, T. and B. Gauthier-Manuel, Microsystem Technologies, 2007. 13(11): p. 1671-1678.

2. Yu, J., et al,. Journal of Power Sources, 2003. 124(1): p. 40-46.

3. Modroukas, D., et al., Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, 2005, 15(9) S193.

4. Meyers, J.P. and H.L. Maynard, Journal of Power Sources, 2002. 109(1): p. 76-88.

5. Yeom, J., et al., Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 2005. 107(2): p. 882-891.

6. Zhiyong, X., et al., Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, 2006(10): p. 2014.

7. Pichonat, T. and B. Gauthier-Manuel, Microsystem Technologies, 2006. 12(4): p. 330-334.

8. Chu, K.L., M.A. Shannon, and R.I. Masel, Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 2006. 153(8): p. A1562-A1567.

9. Chu, K.L., M.A. Shannon, and R.I. Masel, Journal of Micromechanics & Microengineering, 2007. 17(9): p. S243-S249.