Design, fabrication, and initial testing of a miniature PEM fuel cell with micro-scale pyrolyzed carbon fluidic plates

Abstract

Carbonization of machined polymers is a method of creating carbon structures with small feature sizes without having to directly machine carbon (a difficult and expensive process). Pyrolyzed carbon fluidic plates with feature sizes less than 1 mm are used to create a miniature fuel cell. Epoxy is used to seal the fuel cell and water is directly applied to exposed Nafion to hydrate the membrane. The use of miniature carbon fluidic plates will allow for fabrication of 3D (non-planar) proton exchange membrane fuel cells utilizing carbon bipolar plates. Initial test results of the fuel cell are given.