Diagnosis of Coating Failure in Fuel Cell Components

Hydrogen fuel cells are a promising technology which can provide clean electricity from an alternative fuel. They have long been hailed as a means to provide more sustainable energy, however they have been hampered by high costs and complexity of manufacture. At Bramble Energy, we have developed a low-cost fuel cell based on printed circuit board technology. By using materials already produced at large volumes, integrated with well-established manufacturing methods, we are able to scale production quickly and at lower cost. In order to further improve the performance of our systems we want to extend their lifespan beyond the acceptable values which we can currently achieve. By working with NPL we intend to study the ways in which our cells lose performance under accelerated degradation conditions. By understanding the mechanisms leading to degradation we intend to improve our the lifetime of our product to exceed that achievable by other technologies.