Flexible and Adaptable Fuel Cell Pack with High Energy Density Realized by a Bifunctional Catalyst

Huihui Wang; Chuang Bai; Ting Zhang; Jun Wei; Yali Li; Fandi Ning; Yangbin Shen; Jin Wang; Xuetong Zhang; Hui Yang; Qingwen Li; Xiaochun Zhou

doi:10.1021/acsami.9b18511

Flexible and Adaptable Fuel Cell Pack with High Energy Density Realized by a Bifunctional Catalyst

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2020 Jan 29;12(4):4473-4481. doi: 10.1021/acsami.9b18511. Epub 2020 Jan 14.

Authors

Huihui Wang^{1

2}, Chuang Bai^{1

2}, Ting Zhang^{1

2}, Jun Wei^{1

2}, Yali Li^{1

2}, Fandi Ning^{1

2}, Yangbin Shen³, Jin Wang^{1

2}, Xuetong Zhang^{1

2}, Hui Yang⁴, Qingwen Li^{1

2}, Xiaochun Zhou^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ School of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics , University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026 , China.
² Division of Advanced Nanomaterials , Suzhou Institute of Nano-tech and Nano-bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) , Suzhou 215123 , China.
³ Institute of Materials Science and Devices , Suzhou University of Science and Technology , Suzhou 215009 , China.
⁴ Center for Energy Storage and Conversion , Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) , Shanghai 201210 , China.

PMID: 31895534
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.9b18511

Abstract

A proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system with a hydrogen generator could have higher energy density than flexible batteries and supercapacitors and is possible to meet the urgent demand of flexible electronics. However, a flexible PEMFC pack is still not available due to the absence of a flexible hydrogen generator. To solve this problem, we successfully invented a flexible and adaptable hydrogen generator, which was realized by a new bifunctional aerogel catalyst with the abilities of both storing and producing hydrogen. The flexible hydrogen generator can produce hydrogen at room temperature when the device is inverting, bending, and rotating. By combining this flexible hydrogen generator and the unique flexible PEMFC stack of our group, we originally made a highly flexible and adaptable fuel cell pack with a high theoretical energy density (up to 722 Wh·kg^-1) and current achieved energy density (135.9 Wh·kg^-1). Such a PEMFC pack is highly promising to meet the high demand of flexible electronics.

Keywords: aerogel; bifunctional catalyst; flexible fuel cell; flexible hydrogen generator; formic acid.