Development of a planar micro fuel cell with thin film and micro patterning technologies

Technologies for wafer level fabrication of planar PEM fuel cells between 1 mm2 and approximately 1 cm2 were developed. These MEMS-based micro fuel cells may be potential power sources for future applications such as wireless sensor networks, chip cards or autonomous microsystems. The investigations focused on pattering technologies for the fabrication of micro flow fields, design studies for integrated flow fields, material compatibility for fuel cells, patterning of membrane electrodes, serial interconnection of single cells in a planar arrangement, laminating and assembling processes. Although wafer technologies were applied, foil materials were used which allow low-cost fabrication in future production. Prototypes of self-breathing PEM fuel cells with a size of 1 cm×1 cm and 200 μm thickness were fabricated. V/I curves were measured at a variety of ambient conditions. Stable operation was achieved at 80 mW/cm2 at varying ambient conditions with dry hydrogen fuel.