Effect of Diffusion-Layer Morphology on the Performance of Solid-Polymer-Electrolyte Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

Neergat, M and Shukla, AK (2002) Effect of Diffusion-Layer Morphology on the Performance of Solid-Polymer-Electrolyte Direct Methanol Fuel Cells. In: Journal of Power Sources, 104 (2). pp. 289-294.

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Abstract

The performance of solid-polymer-electrolyte direct methanol fuel cells (SPE-DMFCs) is substantially influenced by the morphology of the gas diffusion-layer in the catalytic electrodes. Cells utilising gas diffusion-layers made with high surface-area Ketjen Black carbon, at an optimised thickness, show better performance compared with cells utilising Vulcan XC-72 carbon or ‘acetylene black’ carbon in the diffusion-layer. The cells with a hydrophilic diffusion-layer on the anodes and a hydrophobic diffusion-layer on the cathodes yield better performance. The cells with oxygen or air as the oxidant gave power density of 250 or 105 mW $cm^ - ^2$, respectively, at an operational temperature of 90 °C and 2 bar pressure.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Journal of Power Sources
Publisher:	Elsevier
Additional Information:	The Copyright of this article belongs to Elsevier.
Keywords:	Direct methanol fuel cells;Diffusion-layer morphology;High surface-area carbon
Department/Centre:	Division of Chemical Sciences > Solid State & Structural Chemistry Unit
Date Deposited:	02 Jun 2006
Last Modified:	19 Sep 2010 04:28
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/7474

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