Small Fuel Cells 2005
April 27-28, 2005
Washington, D.C.

Jeffrey Morse
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Livermore, CA

This annual symposium, now in its seventh year, featured a two-day main conference on the latest in small fuel cell developments, with a one-day post-conference workshop on alternative engineering approaches for small fuel cells. The symposium was organized and hosted by the Knowledge Foundation, and held at Loews L’Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Small Fuel Cells for Portable Applications

The two-day main conference, “Small Fuel Cells for Portable Applications,” was attended by over 200 participants from all corners of the world. The professional makeup of the attendees consisted of scientists, engineers, managers, investors, and potential users. The conference organization included 24 oral presentations, a poster session, and company exhibitions. The technical papers included presentations on DMFC, PEM with hydrogen or reformate fuel feed, and SOFC technologies. Several papers discussed techniques for miniaturizing fuel cells using MEMS and micromachining approaches. In addition, several papers addressed hydrogen storage and generation using chemical hydride or hydrocarbon fuel processors. The promise of new products being available for captured markets in the coming year generated a high level of anticipation throughout the audience.

The opening presentation by Valri Lightner of the U.S. Department of Energy discussed the roadmap and schedule for transportation initiatives developed for the hydrogen economy. Most notable was the gap between present status and future targets for PEMFC cost and performance, wherein clear metrics and goals were discussed for fuel cell stack components to be competitive within the next decade. More relevant to the conference audience was the discussion of DOE programs in portable fuel cells, citing the parallelism of developing the manufacturing infrastructure for portable and automotive-scale fuel cell systems.

Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFC)

In the first session on DMFC, Yosuhiro Goto presented the ongoing work at Toshiba on both passive and active DMFC power sources. A second generation prototype for laptop applications was presented, along with a scaled 1W version of an active DMFC. Additionally, Toshiba’s passive 100mW DMFC prototype was presented, having received recent attention for being certified as the world’s smallest DMFC in the Guiness Book of World Records. Manfred Stefener presented discussions of the latest product line of DMFC from SFC Smart Fuel Cell AG. Smart Fuel Cell is noted as the first company in the world to have a portable DMFC product. Updates of new DMFC product developments and performance were further presented.

Perhaps one of the more anticipated presentations was by Shimshon Gottesfeld on MTI MicroFuel Cells DMFC product developments and market insertion strategies. Developments on MTI’s Mobion™ technology were presented, providing technical solutions to water management systems in passive DMFC. The reported breakthrough approach enables a simplified DMFC system with a neat methanol fuel feed. The result is a reduced complexity and cost for present and future DMFC products. Further discussion of MTI’s marketing and partnership strategy was presented, along with a “first of a kind” DMFC and methanol fuel cartridge integrated with an RFID reader produced by Intermec Inc.

James Balcom presented performance results for Polyfuel’s hydrocarbon membrane products. Polyfuel membranes significantly reduce methanol and water crossover effects for DMFC systems, thereby simplifying fuel cell stack designs and enabling smaller DMFC system designs. Hyuk Chang presented an update on the DMFC system products being developed at Samsung SAIT. The presentation overviewed Samsung’s progress in DMFC technologies, both active and passive designs, for application to a range of personal electronics. Dr. Chang presented further details of the materials technologies that have developed at Samsung for catalyst, supports, and nanocomposite membranes. Performance specifications were presented for 25W and 2W prototype laptops and mobile phones.

Piotr Zelenay presented an overview of ongoing research in DMFC performance and systems at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The LANL group has a broad research focus in DMFC, including electrocatalysis, membranes, MEAs, performance reliability, modeling, diagnostics and prototype stack and system development. Several DMFC prototypical systems were discussed during the presentation for a range of portable DMFC systems developed with various collaborators and industrial partners. Of notable interest from this presentation were the results of some of the studies by the LANL group on the impact of methanol concentration on MEA performance, as well as the results of durability studies that have been conducted.

Microfabrication and MEMS Techniques

The next set of presentations included talks on microfabrication and MEMS techniques applied to micro fuel cell integration. Arthur Homa presented an overview of the DMFC approaches being developed by Neah Power Systems. Neah is developing DMFC systems based on a porous silicon electrode platform. The presentation discussed both the technical approach and performance of Neah’s unique system using a nitric acid oxidant that can be regenerated by air or hydrogen peroxide, and liquid electrolyte that mitigates some of the issues associated with traditional proton-conducting electrolytes. Performance of several prototype DMFC systems was presented, with further discussions of stack assembly and integrated microfluidic control system components.

Jeffrey Morse presented an overview of ongoing work at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The LLNL group has developed a fuel cell platform based on porous silicon electrode supports and microfluidic flow fields formed in silicon. The presentation further described the use of microfluidic fuel processors formed in silicon for steam reforming of methanol, and illustrated some of the benefits and challenges for thermal and chemical integration of reformed methanol fuel cell at the microscale.

Ged McLean presented a discussion on fuel cell architectures being explored at Angstrom Power. This talk covered issues associated with both system and fuel cell architectures for PEM fuel cells for portable applications. Key points included the effects of operating point, heat generation, water management, catalyst loading, and fuel requirements on fuel cell performance. A prototype flashlight was demonstrated during the presentation powered by a hydrogen fuel cell conforming to a AA battery size having five times longer run time.

Frederic Galliard presented a discussion on the micro-fuel cell efforts at CEA France. CEA incorporates a MEMS platform in which microchannel porous silicon is formed in a silicon wafer, effectively forming a gas diffusion layer. Various coating techniques and steps are then used to form the catalyst support, catalyst electrolyte and current collector layers in an integrated fashion. Performance results for the CEA approach were quite impressive, demonstrating continuous power density improvements over the past several years using hydrogen fuel and air breathing cathodes. Prototype performance with a chemical hydride fuel cartridge was also presented.

Kevin Stanley from the National Research Council Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation Canada presented an overview and analysis of cathode effects for micro-fuel cells. The presentation discussed the results of a parametric study on cathode effects and impact on micro-fuel cell performance, providing some insight into the limitations and challenges for optimization of micro-fuel cells.

Stefan Wagner presented a discussion of ongoing developments at the Fraunhofer Institute in the area of foil-type MEMS fuel cells. This talk described a range of micromachining techniques used for forming various components of a micro-fuel cell. The Fraunhofer work demonstrated unique combinations of manufacturing and assembly methods as applied to micro-fuel cells, and further described results of a PEMFC foil-type architecture in different form factors.

Jerry Hallmark described the development and status of reformed methanol fuel cells at Motorola. Results and performance of latest generation 20W systems were described using Motorola’s integrated methanol fuel processor feeding a PBI membrane fuel cell stack. Performance projections for an integrated system were presented based on prototype results.

James Cross presented a discussion of PEM fuel cell component testing and qualification at Nuvera. Several key points included impacts of component design and testing hierarchy on system optimization. Sanjeev Mukerjee presented results of a detailed study at Northeastern University on the durability of electrode/polymer electrolyte interface of PEMFCs. Several issues that result in PEM degradation were discussed. James Fenton discussed efforts in the development of high temperature MEAs at the University of Connecticut and Florida Solar Energy Institute. Approaches to fuel cell system scaleup and optimization were presented.

Masanori Hayase presented work on a monolithically fabricated ultra-thin fuel cell fabricated by Tokyo University. This talk described the formation of catalyst supports in porous silicon formed by anodic etching, with results presented for hydrogen fuel for several component iterations. Ray Eshraghi described a microfiber-based fuel cell being developed by Microcell. This talk described the formation of the microfiber cells by extrusion based techniques, with performance results for both methanol and hydrogen fuel feeds.

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC)

The final session of the conference consisted of a series of talks on portable solid oxide fuel cells. Gary Kovacik presented results of a micro solid oxide fuel cell being developed by the Alberta Research Council. The talk described electrophoretic deposition techniques developed to form micro-tubular SOFC structures. Results were presented from a four cell stack operating on hydrogen-air for more than 1500 hours.

Keith Blakely presented efforts on the development of a 50W SOFC system at Nanodynamics. The Revolution 50™ is cited as the first commercial portable SOFC, and has the potential to operate from a range of hydrocarbon fuels. Nanodynamics has developed a tubular SOFC, and has demonstrated integration and packaging of a complete system.

Jerry Martin presented the development of SOFC power supplies at Mesoscopic Devices. This talk described the performance, balance of plant, and system integration of planar SOFC stacks developed for 75W and 250W power supplies. Further discussion of system control components was presented. Aaron Crumm presented the activities at Adaptive Materials on portable solid oxide fuel cells. Scott Swartz presented work at NexTech on direct fuel power modules. This talk described processes and materials developed by NexTech to form both planar and tubular solid oxide cell designs. Results of various fuel cell performances with hydrogen-air were presented.

Post-Conference Workshop

The post conference workshop provided panel discussion topics on alternative engineering approaches and solutions for micro-fuel cells. Speakers included Robert Hockaday of Energy Related Device, who discussed projections for micro-fuel cell implementations, and Richard Masel from the University of Illinois, Urbana, who described new possibilities for formic acid fuel cells. Kenneth Lux from the University of Wisconsin discussed technical hurdles for the commercialization of direct methanol fuel cells. Christine Martin of Mesoscopic Devices described a new simplified direct methanol fuel cell system that uses mixed reactants, and Nick Akers of Akermin, Inc. discussed the potential for biofuel cells for portable power applications.

top ^