Titanium substrate based micro-PEMFC operating under ambient conditions

A novel design and fabrication technique of micro-PEMFC based on titanium substrate is described. The titanium substrate was fabricated with microflow channels using microfabrication techniques, followed by surface treating and coating with a microporous layer (MPL). It served as a combined functional component as gas diffusion layer, current collector and flow plate. A catalyst coated membrane (CCM), fabricated by directly coating catalyst layer onto Nafion 112 membrane, was integrated with the titanium substrates to assemble the micro-PEMFC. The titanium substrate based micro-PEMFC showed some unique characteristics and acceptable performance while operating under ambient conditions. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.