使用高浓度甲醇的微型直接甲醇燃料电池

Development of micro direct methanol fuel cells with high methanol concentration

以丙烯腈-丁二烯-苯乙烯(ABS)共聚物材料作为流场基体,以不锈钢薄片作为集流板,设计制作了一种新型空气自呼吸式微型直接甲醇燃料电池。采用线切割、激光切割等微加工技术制作集流板,并在集流板表面溅射金作防电蚀处理以降低接触电阻。通过对电池阳极传质的建模仿真以及性能测试发现,与传统微型DMFC的阳极结构相比,该阳极结构有效地提高了甲醇传质阻力,减小了甲醇渗透,更适于应用高浓度甲醇燃料。稳定性测试显示该微型DMFC在较高浓度(7mol/L)和很小流速(0.1ml/min)下可以稳定工作,满足了便携式电源对高能量密度的需求。该电池还具有轻质、可批量化生产等优点,便于便携式电源的进一步推广和应用。

A novel air-breathing micro Direct Methanol Fuel Cell（DMFC） was designed and fabricated by taking Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene（ABS） as a basic material and the stainless steel plate as a current collector.The current collector was fabricated by using micro wire cutting and laser cutting technologies,and its surface was sputterd onto a layer of Au to avoid the electrochemistry corrosion and to reduce the contact resistance.Methanol transport was analysed by the anode model of micro DMFC and then the micro-DMFC was tested at different operating parameters.By comparing with the conventional structure,both results show that the novel anode structure is more suitable for the application of high methanol concentration because of high resistance to methanol transportation and low methanol crossover.It is revealed that this micro-DMFC can work steadily at a high methanol concentration of 7 mol/L and a slow velocity of 0.1 ml/min and it is also meaningful for the future applications due to the advantages of low weights and mass productions.