Asymmetric Design of Anode and Cathode Current Collectors for Micro Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

Yu Feng Zhang; Shu Bin Zhang; Ze Zhong Ma; Hai Long Chen; Xiao Wei Liu

doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.645-646.1181

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HomeKey Engineering MaterialsKey Engineering Materials Vols. 645-646Asymmetric Design of Anode and Cathode Current...

Asymmetric Design of Anode and Cathode Current Collectors for Micro Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

Abstract:

This paper studied the combined effect of anode and cathode current collectors on the behavior of water and methanol crossover in micro direct methanol fuel cells (μDMFC). A two-phase, two-dimensional, isothermal model was built to analyze the mass transport behavior in the membrane electrolyte assembly (MEA). The results show that the distribution of methanol exhibits uniform concentration feature over the anode porous area with the asymmetric anode and cathode current collectors. Also, lower water content gradient across the membrane is found. Comparing experiments were conducted to verify the simulation results. Two passive μDMFCs were fabricated and tested. The cells presents almost the same performance at relatively low methanol concentration. However, an increase of 10% cell performance (from 27.5 mW.cm^-2 for symmetric current collectors to 30.3 mW.cm^-2 for asymmetric current collectors) at 5 mol.L^-1 methanol solution was observed. This reveals that the couple of asymmetric current collectors induced the methanol to distribute uniformly and largely suppressed the water and methanol crossover.

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Periodical:

Key Engineering Materials (Volumes 645-646)

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1181-1188

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.645-646.1181

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Online since:

May 2015

Authors:

Yu Feng Zhang*, Shu Bin Zhang, Ze Zhong Ma, Hai Long Chen, Xiao Wei Liu

Keywords:

Current Collectors, Mass Transport, Micro Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (μDMFC), Water Crossover

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* - Corresponding Author

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