Integrated Proton Exchange Membrane Micro Fuel Cells Towards Low Power Wireless Sensor Network Applications

This paper reports approaches to the integration of micro fuel cells on a silicon chip towards low power wireless sensor network applications. Surface texturing method and electrodeposition method were employed to integrate high active surface area catalyst on silicon substrate. Design issues of monolithic planar micro fuel cells are discussed. Serially connected planar fuel cell arrays were integrated and both hydrogen and methanol were fed to evaluate the performance.