Experimental Investigation of the Dynamic Performance of a Microdirect Methanol Fuel Cell Stack for Practical Applications

In this paper, a self-breathing 10-cell microdirect methanol fuel cell (μ-DMFC) stack with double-planar structure is designed, fabricated, and tested. With the help of microstamping technology, the current collectors are microfabricated on the 300 μm-thick stainless steel plate. First, the steady-state performance of the stack is tested. Fed with 2 mL min −1 of 1 M methanol solution, the maximum power output of the stack can reach 141.0 mW at room temperature with a density of 22.03 mW cm −2 . The dynamic performance of this stack is also investigated under several loading modes in consideration of practical conditions. The stack performance represents good responding and reproducible ability in most cases, but deteriorates to varying degrees with the increment of loading cycles. Finally, the μ-DMFC stack proves its good performance in powering two electronic devices five times in 120 days successfully while performance deterioration behavior is also detected.