A direct borohydride fuel cell using MnO2-catalyzed cathode and hydrogen storage alloy anode

In this paper, we presented a simple direct borohydride fuel cell technology in which a MnO2 was used as cathode catalyst and a hydrogen storage alloy used as anode catalyst containing a hydrogen-releasing agent borohydride alkaline electrolyte solution. The new type fuel cell has high electrochemical performance: the average work voltage is about 0.87 V, and the discharge capacity is 3700 mAh/g (for KBH4) at a discharge current density of 5 mA/cm2, corresponding to a utilization of 7.5 electrons per BH4-1. The maximal powder density 70 mW/cm2 is obtained for this cell at a discharge current density of 180 mA/cm2. The new type alkaline fuel cell overcome the problem of the conventional fuel cell in which both a high cost noble metal catalysts and expensive ion exchange membrane was used.