Effects of dissolved iron and chromium on the performance of direct methanol fuel cell

• Published in: Electrochimica acta Vol. 52; no. 24; pp. 7115 - 7120
• Main Authors: Chen, Weimin, Xin, Qin, Sun, Gongquan, Yang, Shaohua, Zhou, Zhenhua, Mao, Qing, Sun, Pichang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2007; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Cation; Cell performance; Chromium; Direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC); Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Equipments for energy generation and conversion: thermal, electrical, mechanical energy, etc; Exact sciences and technology; Fuel cells; Iron; Chromium; Direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC); Iron; Cation; Cell performance; Inorganic cation; Chromium III Ions; Iron III Ions; Alcohol fuel cells; Performance; Methanol
• ISSN: 0013-4686; 1873-3859
• DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2007.05.047

Effects of Fe 3+ and Cr 3+ ions on the performance of direct methanol fuel cell were investigated. The results show that the cell performance decreased remarkably when the concentration of Fe 3+ or Cr 3+ exceeded 1 × 10 −4 mol L −1. Fe 3+ displayed a strong negative effect on the catalytic oxidation of methanol, while Cr 3+ affected the cell performance primarily by exchanging with protons of the membrane/ionomer and resulted in ionic conductivity losses. Complete recovery of the cell performance was not obtained after flushing the cell with deionized water.