The Study, Testing, and Development of Direct Methanol Microscale Fuel Cells

Open Access
- Author:
- Montagna, Paul Anthony
- Area of Honors:
- Mechanical Engineering (Behrend)
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Adam Scott Hollinger, Thesis Supervisor
Amir Khalilollahi, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- fuel cells
microscale
methanol
DMFC
electrode
anode
cathode
fuel molarity
fuel flow rate - Abstract:
- The rapid increase in instability of fossil fuels has led to a more aggressive search for reliable alternative energy. This has led to the rise of fuel cells as a popular and effective source of energy in large-scale applications. However, their development for usage in small-scale applications is still in its early stages. Many factors and concerns including, but not limited to, flow chamber geometry, electrode geometry, fuel molarity, fuel flow rate, gas flow rates, and electrode fabrication methods, must be further explored and analyzed. Once this is done, a feasible micro fuel cell capable of replacing current comparable lithium-ion batteries in powering small electronics may be developed. This thesis presents a review of micro direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC’s) and discusses how each of the above parameters, as well as others, factor into DMFC performance. Initial iterations of a mathematical model used to predict the performance of a DMFC as a function of various experimental parameters is also discussed. Several of these factors, including fuel molarity and flow rate, were further explored using the presented experimental setup and procedure. From this, it was concluded that a methanol fuel molarity of 1M and a fuel flow rate of 18 ml/hr resulted in the highest power densities. It should be noted that these parameters were independently tested, using constant standard parameters to isolate a single testing parameter. While both the experimental and model results are promising, they are just the beginning of the modeling and experimental testing required to produce a feasible final product. Future research plans include further refining the mathematical model and performing experimental tests to measure power density as a function of electrode geometry and fuel temperature.