Micromachined Dense Palladium Electrodes for Thin-film Solid Acid Fuel Cells

Of course not! Humankind has cleared a lot of survival tests before reaching this point in time and shall smartly find out new ways to evolve through these hard times too. As a solution to the world energy and environmental crisis, scientists with foresight have been developing hydrogen based clean power generators: The Fuel Cells. Fuel cells are electrochemical devices which convert chemical energy to electrical energy without a combustion process. There are various kinds of fuel cells of which proton conducting polymer electrolyte membrane type are the most successful ones for portable power applications. Another class of fuel cells with solid acid electrolyte has been recently developed and has many extra advantages. Realizing a perfect membrane electrode assembly with a new kind of electrolyte is always a big challenge, which is precisely what this thesis deals with. This thesis aims at encapsulating the water soluble solid acid electrolyte between two dense micromachined hydrogen diffusive palladium electrodes to form a novel kind of a membrane electrode assembly. Will such a configuration be successful? What are the hurdles one could face on the way to realization? To know more, read on with my thesis... Invitation