Nanoionics Hydrogen Devices for Space

This proposal will demonstrate nanocomposite materials with low temperature performance for space centric hydrogen device applications. The approach relies on nanocomposite membranes that use interface driven proton transport at the interface of nanosized ceramics and polymers to deliver low humidity proton transport. Fuel cells can provide the necessary energy density for long duration storage to survive 14 day lunar nights and enable a persistent lunar base. It can also provide a platform to use scavenged fuels, such as from frozen water and methane in space, for energy. However, the core membrane material used in fuel cells do not survive sudden cold soaks, limited elevated temperature limits impurity tolerance, and a fuel cell-electrolyzer energy storage paradigm that is not unitized  is too expensive to launch. A new membrane material can enable long term implementation of fuel cells in space environments, and enable a unitized system (a fuel cell that can be operated in reverse as an electrolyzer) to decrease the cost for launch by 50%.