Methanol conditioning for improved performance of formic acid fuel cells

This paper considers the effect of methanol pretreatment on the performance of a direct formic acid fuel cell (DFAFC). We find that conditioning of the cell in methanol results in a substantial increase in current. The current at 60 °C increases from 95 to 320 mA/cm2 at 0.3 V. The maximum power density increases from 33 to 119 mW/cm2. The cell resistance decreases from 0.37 to 0.32 Ω cm2. CO stripping experiments show that the catalyst is not being greatly affected by these changes. Our interpretation of the data is that the anode layer of membrane electrolyte assembly (MEA) undergoes some change during the methanol conditioning. The change improves the performance.