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Vapor feed direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs): A review

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  • Mallick, Ranjan K.
  • Thombre, Shashikant B.
  • Shrivastava, Naveen K.

Abstract

Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) are attractive portable energy source for several applications like mobile phone and notebook PCs charging, however the various critical challenges, limit the widespread commercial application of these DMFCs. A review of the experimental and numerical studies on the vapor feed DMFCs is conducted. The critical challenges of a vapor feed DMFC are methanol crossover (MCO), water management layer (WML), carbon dioxide release and operation at high temperature have been discussed and analyzed in detail. It is shown that the critical challenge regarding to the MCO is how to feed vapor methanol with minimum MCO through the membrane so that the cell performance can be maximized. The several methods related to the WML deals with transport of the water produced on the cathode to the anode through the membrane and helps to operate the anode with vapor methanol and the cathode with minimum water flooding. The critical challenge related to the high temperature vapor feed DMFC is the selection of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) materials so that it can be operated at high temperature which critically affects the cell performance. The various vaporization methods of the liquid methanol supplying to DMFC have been discussed in detail. The recent developments in the stacking of vapor feed DMFC to increase the power density have also been discussed. Based on the literature surveys, a statistical flow chart is proposed to optimize a passive vapor feed DMFC with concentrated methanol.

Suggested Citation

  • Mallick, Ranjan K. & Thombre, Shashikant B. & Shrivastava, Naveen K., 2016. "Vapor feed direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs): A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 51-74.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:56:y:2016:i:c:p:51-74
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2015.11.039
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Li, Xianglin & Faghri, Amir, 2011. "Local entropy generation analysis on passive high-concentration DMFCs (direct methanol fuel cell) with different cell structures," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 403-414.
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    3. Yuan, Wei & Tang, Yong & Yang, Xiaojun, 2013. "High-concentration operation of a passive air-breathing direct methanol fuel cell integrated with a porous methanol barrier," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 741-746.
    4. Wu, Q.X. & Zhao, T.S. & Chen, R. & An, L., 2013. "A sandwich structured membrane for direct methanol fuel cells operating with neat methanol," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 301-306.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Hooshyari, Khadijeh & Heydari, Samira & Beydaghi, Hossein & Rajabi, Hamid Reza, 2022. "New nanocomposite membranes based on sulfonated poly (phthalazinone ether ketone) and Fe3O4@SiO2@ resorcinol–aldehyde–SO3H for PEMFCs," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 115-125.
    3. Johánek, Viktor & Ostroverkh, Anna & Fiala, Roman, 2019. "Vapor-feed low temperature direct methanol fuel cell with Pt and PtRu electrodes: Chemistry insight," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 409-415.
    4. Munjewar, Seema S. & Thombre, Shashikant B. & Mallick, Ranjan K., 2017. "Approaches to overcome the barrier issues of passive direct methanol fuel cell – Review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 1087-1104.
    5. Abdelkareem, Mohammad Ali & Sayed, Enas Taha & Nakagawa, Nobuyoshi, 2020. "Significance of diffusion layers on the performance of liquid and vapor feed passive direct methanol fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    6. Abdelkareem, Mohammad Ali & Allagui, Anis & Sayed, Enas Taha & El Haj Assad, M. & Said, Zafar & Elsaid, Khaled, 2019. "Comparative analysis of liquid versus vapor-feed passive direct methanol fuel cells," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 563-584.

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