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Investigation of mass transport and cell performance on μ DMFC with different anode flow fields
Author(s) -
Yuan Zhenyu,
Zhang Yufeng,
Li Zipeng,
Zhao Yang,
Liu Xiaowei
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
international journal of energy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.808
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1099-114X
pISSN - 0363-907X
DOI - 10.1002/er.3013
Subject(s) - anode , direct methanol fuel cell , flow (mathematics) , wafer , saturation (graph theory) , materials science , mechanics , mass flow , convection , methanol fuel , analytical chemistry (journal) , electronic engineering , electrical engineering , chemistry , fuel cells , engineering , physics , optoelectronics , chemical engineering , mathematics , combinatorics , chromatography , electrode
SUMMARY The study systematically analyzes the performance of micro direct methanol fuel cell (μDMFC) with different flow fields. A two‐phase three‐dimensional model is developed to evaluate the mass transport accurately. The transport of methanol and air, the pressure distribution, the anode saturation, and the methanol crossover are numerically observed, the under‐rib convection is also investigated numerically. The flow fields with an active area of 0.64 cm 2 are fabricated on silicon wafers by micro electromechanical system technology. Performance of μDMFCs with different flow fields is sorted as: double‐serpentine flow field (DSFF) > single‐serpentine flow field (SSFF) > triple‐serpentine flow field (TSFF), and the dynamic test results indicate the cell with DSFF takes the shortest time to reach a stable power output when compared with other cells. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.