Development of a passive direct methanol fuel cell stack for high methanol concentration

• Published in: Journal of power sources Vol. 195; no. 18; pp. 5975 - 5979
• Main Authors: Tsujiguchi, Takuya, Abdelkareem, Mohammad Ali, Kudo, Takuya, Nakagawa, Nobuyoshi, Shimizu, Tatehiro, Matsuda, Michio
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 15.09.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Carbon; Contact; Density; Direct energy conversion and energy accumulation; Electrical engineering. Electrical power engineering; Electrical power engineering; Electrochemical conversion: primary and secondary batteries, fuel cells; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Equipments for energy generation and conversion: thermal, electrical, mechanical energy, etc; Exact sciences and technology; Fuel cells; High concentration of methanol; Methyl alcohol; Passive DMFC stack; Porous carbon plate; Power generation; Stacks; Unit cell; Vapor feed; Vertical operation; Voltage; Passive DMFC stack; Vapor feed; Vertical operation; Porous carbon plate; High concentration of methanol; Stacking; Alcohol fuel cells; Carbon; Porous material; Vertical orientation; Methanol
• ISSN: 0378-7753; 1873-2755
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2009.11.051

In order to develop a vertically arranged passive DMFC with a porous carbon plate, PCP, the effect of the head height of the methanol solution in contact with the porous carbon plate on the power generation was investigated for a 55 mm height using a single cell. The single cell was operated at several methanol concentrations greater than 70 wt%. By filling the reservoir with 90 and 100 wt% methanol solutions, power densities greater than 30 mW cm −2 for over 10 h were demonstrated. Based on the result of the single cell study, a passive DMFC stack consisting of 8 unit cells with the PCP was designed and fabricated. The power generation characteristics were then experimentally measured. The maximum power output of 1.8 W, which was almost 10% lower than that expected from the single cell performance, was obtained with 100% methanol. At the same time, a nonuniform cell voltage among the 8 unit cells was found as a reason for the decreasing power output with the increasing current.