Influence of operation conditions on direct NaBH4/H2O2 fuel cell performance

Although hydrogen fuel cells have attracted so much attentions in these years because of the application prospect in electric vehicles, some obstacles have not been solved yet, among which hydrogen storage is one of the biggest. Direct borohydride fuel cell (DBFC) is another choice without hydrogen storage problem because borohydride is used as reactant directly in the fuel cell. In this paper, DBFC performance under different operation conditions was studied including electrolyte membrane type, operation temperature, borohydride concentration, supporting electrolyte and oxidant. Results showed that, with Pt/C and MnO2 as anode and cathode electrocatalyst, respectively, Nafion® 117 membrane as electrolyte, 1.0 M, 3.0 M and 6.0 M NaBH4 and H2O2 solution in NaOH as reactant solution, 80 °C operation, the peak power density could reach 130 mW/cm2.