Effect of Different Types of Microporous Layer Toward the Performance of Direct Formic Acid Fuel Cell

Typical electrodes of anode and cathode are supported on macroporous backing layer with additional microporous carbon layer. The effect of the gas diffusion layer (GDL) on the cell performance in a direct formic acid fuel cell (DFAFC) has been characterized. The performance of DFAFC might be hindered by mass transfer limitation due to hydrophilicity properties of the formic acid. By measuring the contact angle and SEM photograph, the physicochemical and surface morphology of different types of GDL can be classified. Meanwhile, the effects of carbon materials such as carbon black, carbon nanofibre and carbon nanotube as a microporous layer on the backing layer of carbon paper were investigated on the basis of the characterization and the performance. From the results, it was obtained that CNF was a good material as microporous layer due to the properties of in plane conductivity, high current in cyclic voltammetry and also had smoother surface on the morphology test.