A novel proton-exchange porous silicon membrane production method for μDMFCs

This study introduces a new production method to use as a porous silicon-based proton exchange membrane for μDMFCs. In this respect, EIS, fuel crossover test, and fuel cell performance test at the μDMFC sample cell are performed at room temperature on a porous silicon-based membrane that was produced for passive mode μDMFC as a proton exchange membrane. The reason for performing the fuel crossover test is to ensure the silicon opened pores along the silicon wafer and to examine the fuel permeability of the membrane. The fuel crossover test shows that the fuel cell provides energy for about 60 min with a 50 mL fuel. EIS reveals proton permeability of proton exchange membrane. The calculated value of the conductivity of the membrane is 0.0016 S/cm. OCV of the system is 0.4V, whereas values (with highest power density is 0.1 mW/cm²and with the highest current density is 0.39 mA/cm²) are low. However, porous silicon is not a natural proton conductor. Hence, these values can be increased by different ways such as porous silicon functionalized, or serial connection of fuel cells. On the other hand, the value of OCV is consistent with the previous studies. In sum, this study presents a simple, cost-effective, and short time-consuming method for the production of porous silicon as proton-conducting membrane behavior.