Humidity-independent portable air-hydrogen fuel cells with slotted silicon based gas-distributing plates

Abstract

We have studied the characteristics of small-scale air-hydrogen fuel cells (FCs) operating in a free-breathing cathode regime. The cells are provided with a new gas-distributing element on the cathode side, which is based on a silicon plate with narrow through slots (slotted Si plate). It is shown that the use of a slotted Si plate significantly weakens the dependence of the FC characteristics on the humidity of environment in a broad temperature range. Indeed, at a fixed temperature, the FC power only changed within 10% when the relative humidity of the ambient air varied between 50 and 98%.