Membrane electrode assembly for passive direct methanol fuel cells

A novel structure of membrane electrode assembly (MEA) for a passive direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) was proposed to achieve high performances. Composite membrane with low methanol cross-over and diffusion layers with hydrophilic nano-particles developed in this study were used for a novel MEA structure. The membrane and the diffusion layers were investigated for water back diffusion effects and performances in a passive DMFC. The proposed electrodes were proven to be two times more effective in water back diffusion than conventional electrodes, and their MEAs showed higher performances than conventional MEA. The novel MEA with composite membrane showed power density of 48 mW cm−2 at 0.3 V, which is 1.5 times higher than a conventional MEA with Nafion® membrane.