Performance, scale-up and modelling a direct methanol solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell

Performance of a small scale and a large scale direct methanol fuel cell based on a solid polymer electrolyte membrane (SPE) is discussed. The fuel cell utilises a vaporised methanol fuel at a porous carbon/noble metal catalyst electrode. The performance of the fuel cell is affected by the cross-over of methanol from the anode to the cathode through the polymer membrane and this behaviour is modelled. To evaluate cell performance mathematical models are constructed which describe the potential and concentration distributions in the electrode regions. These models are used to predict the cell voltage, current density response of the fuel cell. The generation of heat and enthalpy changes of fuel and oxidant are important features in practical cell operation and models are developed to predict the dynamic thermal response of the fuel cell.