A zinc/air fuel cell for electric vehicles

The authors are conducting tests of an advanced zinc/air fuel cell design to determine effectiveness in various commercial applications. Their 322-cm/sup 2/ cell uses gravity-fed zinc pellets as the anode, 12 M KOH electrolyte, and an air cathode catalyzed by a cobalt-porphyrin complex on carbon black. A single 322 cm/sup 2/ cell runs at a standard operating power of 38 W (1200 W/m/sup 2/) at 39 A (1245 A/m/sup 2/) and 0.96 V with a power density of 2400 W/m/sup 2/ at 0.67 V. With improved current collection hardware, already demonstrated in the laboratory, power generation increases to /spl sim/3600 W/m/sup 2/ at 1 V. They conducted a 50-hour test in which a cell generated 587 Ah and 569 Wh. The power that may be generated increases by a factor of 2.5 between T=28/spl deg/C and 52/spl deg/C. Electrolyte capacity, without stabilization additives, was measured at 147 Ah/L.