The low power range can be an interesting application market for the P
EM fuel cell in the near future. With a possible function as battery i
n portable devices the banded structure PEM fuel cell will be an advan
tageous alternative to the conventional stack. The new system provides
high output voltages, a flat cell geometry and can be optimized with
respect to smaller cell volumes. The article describes the principle f
unction of such a system and the necessary parameter for optimizing th
e cell geometry. A comparison with a conventional stack design is give
n and experimental results with an eight cell banded structure stack a
re presented. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.