Compact Formic Acid Fuel Cells

The objective of this Phase I proposal is to do the critical characterization of passive formic acid fuel cells (FAFC) and to complete a conceptual design for a 20W device. FAFC has a straightforward design and is being developed at Renew for low power range applications (i.e., milliwatts to 30 watts). The basic components of the FAFC are the same as a Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC) except that it uses formic acid as the fuel and catalysts specific to this fuel. However, unlike the DMFC, the FAFC is less encumbered by membrane crossover and requires less balance-of-plant due to its chemistry. This allows rapid prototyping of a very simple, passive, and small system. These characteristics make FAFC ideal for small electronic applications with power requirements of 30 watts or less.