Investigation of MEMS-based micro direct methanol fuel cell based on novel cross cathode

In this paper, a silicon-based micro direct methanol fuel cell (µDMFC) featured with a novel cross-structure cathode is presented to improve the cell performance. Furthermore, a three-dimensional model coupled with mass, momentum and heat transports is established. Simulation results show that the novel structure can effectively increase the oxygen mass transport and pressure compared with the conventional perforated structure of the cathode current collector. Also, in order to optimize the structure, the effect of cross channel width on the oxygen transport is evaluated. The air-breathing µDMFC with the effective area of 0.64cm² is fabricated using micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) technologies, and the detailed experimental validation is conducted. The results reveal that the cross-structure exhibits significantly better performance than the conventional one with a 30% increase in peak power density. The experimental results are well in agreement with the simulation.