연성 기판을 전류 집전체로 사용한 평판형 연료전지 스택

Miniature planar stack using the flexible Printed Circuit Board as current collectors

Fuel cells have the potential of providing several times higher energy storage densities than those possible using current state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries, but current energy density of fuel cell system is not better than that of lithium-ion batteries. To achieve the high energy density, volume and weight of fuel cell system need to be reduced by miniaturizing system components such as stack, fuel tank, and balance-of-plant. In this paper, the thin flexible PCB (Printed circuit board) is used as a current collector to reduce the stack volume. Two end plates are made from light weight aluminum alloy plate. The plate surface is wholly oxidized through the anodizing treatment for electrical insulation. The opening rate of cathode plate hole is optimized through unit cell performance measurement of various opening rates. The performances are measured at room temperature and ambient pressure condition without any repulsive air supply. The active area of MEA is 10.08 $cm^2$ and active area per a unit cell is 1.68 $cm^2$. The peak power density is about 210 mW/$cm^2$ and the air-breathing planar stack of 2 Wis achieved as a small volume of 18 cc.