| Title |
Fabrication and Test of Micro Direct Methanol Fuels using Platinum Sputtered Microcolumn Electrodes with a Limited Fuel Source |
| Keywords |
Micro fuel cell ; Microcolumn electrode ; Limited methanol fuel source ; Portable power source |
| Abstract |
We present a miniature Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (micro-DMFC) using platinum sputtered microcolumn electrodes with a limited amount of fuel. We use the microcolumn electrode in order to improve the power density of the micro-DMFC that consists of two electrodes and polymer electrolyte. We also design the built-in fuel chamber in the anode for the portable electronics applications. We design and fabricate both microcolumn and planar electrodes, having an identical projective area of 5mm×5mm. The diffusion current density of the microcolumn electrode is 1.73 times higher than that of the planar electrode at electrode potential of 1.1V in the half-cell test. The micro-DMFC based on the microcolumn electrodes shows the maximum power of 10.8 pm7.54㎼(43.23 pm0.16㎼/ textrm cm^2) at the projective area of 5mm×5mm, while the planar electrode micro-DMFC shows the maximum power of 0.81 pm0.42㎼(3.24 pm1.68㎼/ textrm cm^2) at the same projective area. The micro-DMFC based on the microcolumn electrodes shows 13 times higher power density that the micro-DMFC based on the planar electrodes does. |