화학공학소재연구정보센터
Journal of Power Sources, Vol.195, No.21, 7349-7358, 2010
Passive cathodic water/air management device for micro-direct methanol fuel cells
A high efficient passive water/air management device (WAMD) is proposed and successfully demonstrated in this paper. The apparatus consists of cornered micro-channels and air-breathing windows with hydrophobicity arrangement to regulate liquids and gases to flow on their predetermined pathways. A high performance water/air separation with water removal rate of about 5.1 mu l s(-1) cm(-2) is demonstrated. The performance of the proposed WAMD is sufficient to manage a cathode-generated water flux of 0.26 mu l s(-1) cm(-2) in the micro-direct methanol fuel cells (mu DMFCs) which are operated at 100 mW cm(-2) or 400 mA cm(-2). Furthermore, the condensed vapors can also be collected and recirculated with the existing micro-channels which act as a passive water recycling system for mu DMFCs. The durability testing shows that the fuel cells equipped with WAMD exhibit improved stability and higher current density. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.