TECHNOLOGY OF DIRECT METHANOL FUEL CELL PROGRESS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS
Fuel cell represents a new energy conversion technology, which promises to provide clean source of power. Fuel cells using methanol directly on the electrode or the DMFC are the promising candidates for transportation and portable power source applications. The low operation temperature, fast startu...
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| Format: | article |
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2020
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.kfupm.edu.sa/id/eprint/1567/1/P215.pdf |
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| Summary: | Fuel cell represents a new energy conversion technology, which promises to provide clean source of power. Fuel cells using methanol directly on the electrode or the DMFC are the promising candidates for transportation and portable power source applications. The low operation temperature, fast startup time and simplicity (i.e. no need for reformer) are some of the advantages of DMFC, which make it attractive for transportation applications. Moreover, liquid methanol has substantial electro-activity on catalytically active anodes of DMFC, has high efficiency, inexpensive and widely available and can be easily handled and distributed. The main poison species for platinum anode of methanol fuel cell is recognized as adsorbed CO. The dramatic improvement in DMFC performance is mainly attributed to the use of polymer electrolyte membrane, Nafion. The best single cell performance reached a power density of 300 mW/cm2 at a cell voltage of 500 mV. The basic problems in DMFC are still linked to the poor catalytic activities of anode and the methanol crossover through Nafion membranes. In addition, the high price of Nafion membrane also acts as a barrier towards the commercialization. This paper presents the progress made in the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) and their future prospects. Also, some novel polymer membrane development work carried out by the author for polymer DMFC and PEM fuel cell will be highlighted. |
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