Performance of direct methanol fuel cell with a palladium–silica nanofibre/Nafion composite membrane

Palladium–silica nanofibres (Pd–SiO2fibre) were adopted as an additive to Nafion recast membranes in order to reduce methanol crossover and improve the cell performance. The performance of a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) with fabricated composite membrane was evaluated through a passive air-breathing single cell direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). The limiting crossover current density was measured to determine the methanol permeation in the DMFC. The effects of membrane annealing temperature and casting solvent of composite membrane on the cell performance were investigated and are discussed here. Compared to recast Nafion with the same thickness (150 μm), the Pd–SiO2fibre/Nafion composite membrane exhibited higher performance and lower methanol permeability. A maximum power density of 10.4 mW cm−2 was obtained with a 2 M methanol feed, outperforming the much thicker commercial Nafion 117 with a power density of 7.95 mW cm−2 under the same operating conditions. The experimental results showed that the Pd–SiO2fibre as inorganic fillers for Nafion could effectively reduce methanol crossover and improve the membrane performance in DMFC applications.