TITLE:
Chitin Based Fuel Cell and Its Proton Conductivity
AUTHORS:
Takashi Kawabata, Yasumitsu Matsuo
KEYWORDS:
Fuel Cell, Proton Conductor, Electrolyte, Biomaterials
JOURNAL NAME:
Materials Sciences and Applications,
Vol.9 No.10,
September
6,
2018
ABSTRACT: We have
fabricated a fuel cell based on the tissue-derived biomaterial “chitin”, and
investigated its proton conductivity. It was found that chitin becomes the
electrolyte of the fuel cell in the humidified condition, and power density of the
fuel cell using chitin electrolyte becomes typically 1.35 mW/cm2 at
the 100% relative humidity. This result is the first result showing that the
polysaccharide obtained from nature becomes the fuel cell electrolyte.
Moreover, this result indicates that chitin is proton conductor in the
humidified condition. In the chitin sheet plane, proton conductivity in chitin
is observed approximately 0.1 S/m. Further, it was also found that chitin has
the anisotropic proton conductivity. The proton conductivity along the chitin
fiber direction is higher than that perpendicular to the chitin fiber direction.
From these results, it is deduced that the formation of water bridges
accompanied by hydration plays an important role in the appearance of proton
conductivity in chitin.