Dimethyl ether (DME) has been considered as a promising alternative fuel for direct-feed fuel cells but lack of an efficient DME oxidation electrocatalyst has remained the challenge for the commercialization of the direct DME fuel cell. The commonly studied binary PtRu catalyst shows much lower activity in DME than methanol oxidation. In this work, guided by density functional theory (DFT) calc...

Mastery over the structure of nanomaterials enables control of their properties to enhance their performance for a given application. Herein we demonstrate the design and fabrication of Pt-based nanomaterials with enhanced catalytic activity and superior selectivity toward the reactions in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) upon the deep understanding of the mechanisms of these electrochemical ...

This paper introduces a micro direct methanol fuel cell (μDMFC) with an imbedded self-pumping mechanism to deliver liquid fuel. The fuel is propelled without any power consuming component (e.g., a pump), while removing the CO2 bubbles generated by the fuel-cell electrochemical reaction of the system. Furthermore, the pumping rate is self-regulated by the reaction, i.e., by the load. By eliminat...

Please cite this article as: Ismail A., Kamaruddin S. K., Daud W. R. W. and Masdar M. S., (2012), Development of conceptual design model of direct methanol fuel cell for a portable application, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 29, 349-354 349 Development of Conceptual Design Model of Direct Methanol Fuel Cell for a Portable Application Azlina Ismail, Siti Kartom Kamarudin*, Wan Ramli W. Daud,...

Owing to the serious crossover of methanol from the anode to the cathode through the polymer electrolyte membrane, direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) usually use dilute methanol solutions as fuel. However, the use of high-concentration methanol is highly demanded to improve the energy density of a DMFC system. Instead of the conventional strategies (for example, improving the fuel-feed system, ...

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...

To improve the contact between platinum catalyst and titanium substrate, a layer of TiO 2 nanotube arrays has been synthesized before depositing Pt nanoflowers by pulse electrodeposition. Dramatic improvements in electrocatalytic activity (3×) and stability (60×) for methanol oxidation were found, suggesting promising applications in direct methanol fuel cells. The 3× and 60× improvements persi...

Methanol oxidation catalysts comprising an outer Pt-shell with an inner Ni-core supported on carbon, (Pt-Ni/C), were prepared with either crystalline or amorphous Ni core structures. Structural comparisons of the two forms of catalyst were made using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and methanol oxidation activity compar...

We report a Pd-Co (3:1)/graphene oxide (Pd3Co /GO) catalyst through a one-step strategy. GO is synthesized from graphite electrodes using ionic liquid-assisted electrochemical exfoliation. Controllable GO-supported Pd3Co electrocatalystis then was reduced by ethylene glycol as a stabilizing agent to prepare highly dispersed PdCo nanoparticles on carbon graphene oxide to be used as oxygen reduct...