An experimental study on the performance of a zinc air fuel cell with inexpensive metal oxide catalysts and porous organic polymer separators

A zinc air fuel cell (ZAFC) of taper-end structure was designed and manufactured with a polyamide-base engineering plastic. An air cathode with multiple layers of blended inexpensive metal oxides, MnO2 and CeO2, showed a remarkably stable electricity-generating performance even at high current density. A cheap thin Nylon filter was found as a potential candidate for the separator in ZAFC because of its high stability and durability in the alkali electrolyte and proper pore size. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry.