Analysis of a novel MEMS-based design of micro-direct methanol fuel cell

A theoretical analysis is performed in this study for a novel MEMS-based design of micro-direct methanol fuel cell which was proposed by Motokawa et al. [S. Motokawa, M. Mohamedi, T. Momma, J. Electrochem. Commun. 6 (2004) 562–565]. The system comprises two parallel microchannels and is fabricated by a series of steps of MEMS techniques. The methanol stream occupies one channel as fuel and the saturated oxygen liquid stream flows in the other channel as oxidant. Both reactants are dissolved in dilute sulfuric acid solution. The top of the system is covered by a layer of Nafion membrane as the electrolyte layer. Such a novel design eliminates the complicated water management problem and could potentially enhance the volume power density. The cell performance is investigated in detail by examining the effects of several system parameters. The present results provide significant physical insights for the system and benefit the further optimal design of this novel MEMS-based design of microfuel cell for the fulfillment of practice application in portable power sources.