Performance of an Active Micro Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Using Reduced Catalyst Loading MEAs

D.S. Falcão, R.A. Silva, C.M. Rangel and A.M.F.R. Pinto
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D.S. Falcão: CEFT, Departamento de Engenharia Química, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
R.A. Silva: LNEG, Laboratório Nacional de Energia e Geologia, Fuel Cells and Hydrogen, Paço do Lumiar, 22, 1649-038 Lisboa, Portugal
C.M. Rangel: LNEG, Laboratório Nacional de Energia e Geologia, Fuel Cells and Hydrogen, Paço do Lumiar, 22, 1649-038 Lisboa, Portugal
A.M.F.R. Pinto: CEFT, Departamento de Engenharia Química, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 11, 1-9

Abstract: The micro direct methanol fuel cell (MicroDMFC) is an emergent technology due to its special interest for portable applications. This work presents the results of a set of experiments conducted at room temperature using an active metallic MicroDMFC with an active area of 2.25 cm 2 . The MicroDMFC uses available commercial materials with low platinum content in order to reduce the overall fuel cell cost. The main goal of this work is to provide useful information to easily design an active MicroDMFC with a good performance recurring to cheaper commercial Membrane Electrode Assemblies MEAs. A performance/cost analysis for each MEA tested is provided. The maximum power output obtained was 18.1 mW/cm 2 for a hot-pressed MEA with materials purchased from Quintech with very low catalyst loading (3 mg/cm 2 Pt–Ru at anode side and 0.5 mg/cm 2 PtB at the cathode side) costing around 15 euros. Similar power values are reported in literature for the same type of micro fuel cells working at higher operating temperatures and substantially higher cathode catalyst loadings. Experimental studies using metallic active micro direct methanol fuel cells operating at room temperature are very scarce. The results presented in this work are, therefore, very useful for the scientific community.

Keywords: MicroDMFC; experimental studies; commercial MEAs; low catalyst loading (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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