Portable PEM Fuel Cell Using Low Cost Pseudo Catalyst Electrodes

"DOD seeks compact and lightweight portable fuel cell systems for communication, computation, and sensors, with a 20W power requirement. US Nanocorp proposes to demonstrate the feasibility of exploiting a member electrode assembly ("MEA") using low costpseudo-catalyst electrodes for portable proton exchange membrane fuel cells ("PEMFCs"). An MEA in a conventional PEMFC stack uses a Nafion proton exchange membrane electrolyte, noble metal catalyst anode and cathode. The high cost of precious metalcatalysts and complex fabrication techniques limits their applications both in commercial and DoD arenas. Substitution of precious metal catalysts with low cost and abundant materials is the primary challenge when developing low cost portable PEMFCs. Theproposed PEMFCs system will consist of a metal hydride anode, a nanofibrous manganese dioxide cathode, and a Nafion proton exchange membrane. The electrochemical performance of the PEMFC system using pseudo catalysts will be evaluated. The advantages ofnovel pseudo catalyst PEMFC will include high-energy conversion efficiency, low polarization, high working voltage, insensitivity to CO poisoning, low cost, high efficiency, and zero pollution "cool" energy conversion. This pseudo catalyst portable PEMFCsystem will be useful in many applications, including computers and communication devices, military aircraft, sensors, and medical power supply systems. Commercial potential of the propose