Fabrication of miniaturized Si-based electrocatalytic membranes

Abstract

The increasing interest for lightweight and portable electronic systems, cellphones and small digital devices is driving technological research towards integrated regenerating power sources with small dimensions and great autonomy. Conventional batteries are already unable to deliver power in ever smaller volumes while maintaining the requirements of long duration and light weight. A possible solution to overcome these limits is the use of miniaturized fuel cells. The fuel cell offers a greater gravimetric energy density compared to conventional batteries. The micromachining technology of silicon is an important tool to reduce the fuel cell structure to micron sizes. The use of silicon also gives the opportunity to integrate the power source and the electronic circuits controlling the fuel cell on the same structure. This article reports preliminary results concerning the micromachining process for fabricating a silicon-based electrocatalytic membrane for miniaturized Si-based proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells.