Two modifications to a reference direct methanol fuel-cell (DMFC) system are considered to improve methanol fuel utilisation. Fuel utilisation can be optimised by minimising the parasitic methanol crossover by manipulating methanol concentration in the fuel cells. Simulations of the two systems indicate that there is considerable potential to increase fuel utilisation for dynamic concentration ...

Low cost, durable, and selective membranes with high ionic conductivity are a priority need for wide-spread adoption of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). Electrolyte membranes are a major cost component of PEMFC stacks at low production volumes. PEMFC membranes also impose limitations on fuel cell system operating conditions that add system...

Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) are getting increasing attention as a possible power source for application in the field of power electronics where the energy requirements are relatively small. The major advantage of the DMFC is their high energy density in comparison to the conventional batteries. In this study, the performance of a passive direct methanol fuel cell was investigated under fi...

High-Performance Alkaline Direct Methanol Fuel Cell using a Nitrogen-Postdoped Anode Report Title A commercial PtRu/C catalyst postdoped with nitrogen demonstrates a significantly higher performance (?10–20?% improvement) in the anode of an alkaline direct methanol fuel cell than an unmodified commercial PtRu/C catalyst control. The enhanced performance shown herein is attributed at least parti...

Sulfonic acid-functionalized polymer electrolyte membranes alternative to Nafion(®) were developed. These were hydrocarbon systems, such as blend sulfonated polyetheretherketone (s-PEEK), new generation perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) systems, and composite zirconium phosphate-PFSA polymers. The membranes varied in terms of composition, equivalent weight, thickness, and filler and were investigat...

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The direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) is considered a viable power production technology for portable electronics equipment (10’s-100’s watts) and transportation vehicles (10’s-100’s kilowatts). Since methanol is relatively inexpensive and a reformer or other fuel processing equipment is not required for the DMFC, this power system has the potential to be low cost, compact, reliable and fuel eff...