INTRODUCING LIQUID OXYGEN-CARRIERS DIRECTLY INTO FUEL CELLS

DARPA'S CURRENT ARTIFICIAL GILL PROGRAM USES SPECIALLY DESIGNED OXYGEN-BINDING MOLECULES WHICH ARE ELECTROCHEMICALLY MODULATED TO RELEASE THE OXYGEN AS A GAS TO FEED A FUEL CELL FOR MARINE POWER. IT MAY BE POSSIBLE FOR A FUEL CELL CATHODE TO RELEASE AND CONSUME THE OXYGEN FROM THE LIQUID CARRIER MOLECULE WITHOUT THE INTERMEDIATE ELECTROCHEMICAL STEP. INTRODUCING THE LIQUID OXYGEN-CARRIER DIRECTLY INTO THE FUEL CELL WOULD ELIMINATE THE SEPARATE ELECTROCHEMICAL UNLOADING CELL, THEREBY REDUCING THE TOTAL VOLUME OF THE GILL AND POTENTIALLY DECREASING THE ENERGY REQUIRED FOR EXTRACTION. IT WOULD ALSO CREATE A MUCH SIMPLER FUEL CELL DESIGN BY REMOVING THE GAS/LIQUID INTERFACE THAT CAUSES SO MANY PROBLEMS IN CURRENTLY DESIGNED FUEL CELLS. FOR PHASE I, AQUANAUTICS WILL PERFORM PROOF OF PRINCIPLE EXPERIMENTS AND DEVELOP THE DESIGN OF SUCH A FUEL CELL. THIS COULD LEAD TO A PHASE II BENCH PROTOTYPE AND A PHASE III DEMONSTRATION THAT WOULD INTEGRATE WITH THE EXISTING DARPA PROGRAM. AQUANAUTICS HAS SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCE IN OXYGEN CARRIER CHEMISTRY, ELECTROCHEMISTRY, AIR CATHODES AND FUEL CELLS AS PART OF ITS CURRENT DARPA CONTRACT. THE COMPANY HAS SBIR EXPERIENCE AND THE PEOPLE AND FACILITIES TO CONDUCT THE PROPOSED SCOPE OF WORK.