Weighing 2.23 grams, fuel cell can generate 0.228 watts per gram

(SEOUL=Yeonhap news) A team of researchers developed a lightweight yet flexible fuel cell. Fuel cells are batteries that generate electricity by utilizing hydrogen. Applying this battery to drones can significantly  increase the dwell time up to 1 hour. 

A team of researchers from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), professor Man Soo Choi/ professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University (SNU) said they confirmed the performance by designing and manufacturing such a fuel cell.

Recently, wearable electronic devices have been developed and researches to make the batteries light and flexible have been actively conducted all over the world.

As part of this research, the researchers made it possible to flex a lightweight, power-producing fuel cell.

Plastic film was selected as the battery material, and the thickness was made thin as 0.992mm so as to make it flexible. The weight of the fuel cell was 2.23g, and it emitted 0.228W per g of battery. This is the highest performance among the flexible fuel cells reported so far.

The performance of the battery was maintained even when the battery was bent in a S-shape or repeatedly folded and unfolded 200 times.

The researchers also confirmed that it could connect 10 fuel cells in series to charge smartphones and run small motors.

10 fuel cells were plugged to charge a smartphone and run a small motor. [Provided by KIST]

According to Seong Jong Yoo, "The ultra-light fuel cells that are being developed will be suitable for drones in particular," he said. "By applying this battery, we expect to increase the running time by more than three times from an average of 20 minutes to over an hour." said.

This research was carried out in hand in hand by the Global Frontier Project of the Creation Science Department of the Future, KIST institution-specific business and Korea Research Foundation. The results of the research were published in NPG Asia Materials on May 26 .

sun@yna.co.kr

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