Performance of Single Chamber Fuel Cell using an Inorganic Proton Conductor Prepared by Sol-Gel Method

Abstract

Performance of a novel single chamber fuel cell (SCFC) using an inorganic proton conductor was studied to electric characteristic at catalytic electrodes and operating temperatures in dry gas mixtures of hydrogen and oxygen. The inorganic proton conductor of SCFC was prepared by the sol-gel method using the boehmite (AlO(OH)) material. The open-circuit voltage (OCV) of single cell achieved a maximum of 730mV in the dry gas mixtures of H2/O2=50% at room-temperature operation so that the impedance values of the single cell became lower when using the sputtered Pt as outer electrode and Pt paste as inner electrode. This OCV value corresponds to about theoretical electromotive force. The operating temperature of single cell could improve to 60°C by performing heat treatment of boehmite film covered with a nafion dispersion solution. Moreover, the power and current densities of single cell increased to 1.1mW/cm2 and 7.64mA/cm2 by making thin boehmite film of 3μm. As a result, the SCFC using the boehmite electrolyte prepared by sol-gel method were found to achieve the cell performance of high-energy density at higher operating temperatures in the dry gas mixtures such that it used as the portable electrochemical generator.