Gas management in flow field design using 3D direct methanol fuel cell model under high stoichiometric feed

Water management is a critical issue for a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). This study focuses primarily on the use of a super-hydrophilic or super-hydrophobic cathode porous flow field to improve the water management of a passive air-breathing DMFC. The flow field layer was made of an in-house copper-fiber sintered felt (CFSF) which owns good stability and conductivity. Results indicate that the super-hydrophilic flow field performs better at a lower methanol concentration since it facilitates water removal when the water balance coefficient (WBC) is high. In the case of high-concentration operation, the use of a super-hydrophobic pattern is more able to reduce methanol crossover (MCO) and increase fuel efficiency since it helps maintain a lower WBC due to its ability in enhancing water back flow from the cathode to the anode. The effects of methanol concentration and the porosity of the CFSF are also discussed in this work. The cell based on the super-hydrophobic pattern with a porosity of 60% attains the best performance with a maximum power density of 18.4 mW cm−2 and a maximum limiting current density of 140 mA cm−2 at 4 M.

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WITHDRAWN: Performance evaluation of a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) with novel anode flow field operating with neat methanol

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy ◽

10.1016/j.ijhydene.2014.01.118 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Q. Xu ◽

C.Z. Yang ◽

H.F. Zhang ◽

R. Zuo

Keyword(s):

Performance Evaluation ◽

Fuel Cell ◽

Flow Field ◽

Direct Methanol Fuel Cell ◽

Direct Methanol ◽

Methanol Fuel Cell

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F108 Performance improvement by porous stainless steel flow field in direct methanol fuel cell

The Proceedings of the National Symposium on Power and Energy Systems ◽

10.1299/jsmepes.2009.14.179 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 2009.14 (0) ◽

pp. 179-180

Author(s):

Toshio SHUDO ◽

Shinji NAGANUMA

Keyword(s):

Stainless Steel ◽

Fuel Cell ◽

Flow Field ◽

Performance Improvement ◽

Direct Methanol Fuel Cell ◽

Porous Stainless Steel ◽

Direct Methanol ◽

Steel Flow ◽

Methanol Fuel Cell

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Fabrication of Membrane-Electrolyte Assembly with Nanocomposite for Direct Methanol Fuel Cell

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.566.386 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 566 ◽

pp. 386-389

Author(s):

Ho Chang ◽

Mu Jung Kao ◽

Kuang Ying Lee

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cell ◽

Flow Field ◽

Direct Methanol Fuel Cell ◽

Operating Voltage ◽

Mixed Solution ◽

Field Plate ◽

Serpentine Flow Field ◽

Direct Methanol ◽

Electronic Load ◽

Methanol Fuel Cell

This study aims to deal with the preparation of membrane-electrolyte assembly (MEA) of Pt/Ru/C nanocomposite as well as connecting to a direct methanol fuel cell and using PCB process packaging to test the efficiency of the DMFC. The components assembled in DMFC are including anode flow field plates, MEA and current collector.Using PCB boards for the anode flow field plates as well as the electicity collector plates and the type of flow field plate adopts serpentine flow field. For the efficiency of DMFC, liquid motors are used to press methanol mixed solution at specific temperature into DMFC. Besides, the cathode of DMFC adopts natural-breath method with air and uses DC electronic load to activate DMFC to investigate operating voltage and further to set constant voltage to measure current to calculate the efficiency of DMFC. Initial results of I-V curve show that self-developed MEA of Pt/Ru/C nanocomposite can enhance around 0.2% current density of DMFC after being assembled like commercial MEA

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