Stainless steel wire mesh flow-fields for polymer electrolyte fuel cells

摘要

The high cost of fuel cells has delayed their potential widespread use. Stack manufacturers have historically used high-Pt loading membrane/electrode assemblies (MEAs) and intricately machined graphite bipolar plates. We have focused our efforts on decreasing the cost of these components in order to demonstrate an inexpensive, yet high performance PEM fuel cell. This paper describes the design and demonstration of a 100 cm(sup 2) (active area) cell that utilizes ultra-low Pt loading MEAs and inexpensive stainless steel wire screen flow fields.