A Nanotechnology-Based Hydrogen Generator for a Compact Fuel Cell Power System

Advances in microelectronics technology have digitized the modern battlefield by enabling night vision, global positioning, laser range-finding/targeting, digital communications, and advanced sensing. As these powerful new battlefield technologies emerge and mature, the need for compact, efficient, silent, and safe power generation will continue to increase. While fuel cells have kept pace with these power needs, the hydrogen storage and retrieval technologies on which they depend are still transitioning out of the laboratory. This proposal outlines the first part of a three-phase program for bringing low-temperature hydrogen technology onto the battlefield, by integrating lab-scale hydrogen fuel with state-of-the-art commercial fuel cells. It capitalizes on the success of supported ammonia borane, one of the most promising modern hydrogen storage materials, and on laboratory work showing that its hydrogen release kinetics can be tailored by manipulation of support materials at the nanometer length scale. In Phase I of the proposed program, carbon-cryogel-supported ammonia borane fuel composite will be optimized, and then integrated into a hydrogen generator designed to run a commercial fuel cell according to the Army’s specifications. In Phase II, materials and designs will be refined, and a working prototype provided; in Phase III, the design will be finalized, scaled-up, and marketed.