Affiliation:
1. Division of Fuel Cells and Battery Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences Dalian 116023 China
2. Key Laboratory of Fuel Cells and Hybrid Power Sources Chinese Academy of Sciences Dalian 116023 China
3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 100049 China
Abstract
Low‐volume power density remains a significant barrier to the portable application of direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). Herein, a shared anode flow field (SAFF) structure is introduced in an active DMFC to reduce stack volume and improve discharge performance. The differences in discharge performance between the bi‐cell with SAFF and the bi‐cell with traditional anode flow field (TAFF), coupled with the effect of operating conditions on performance, are investigated by polarization curve, electrochemical impedance spectra, and voltage versus time curves. The results show that the SAFF structure enhances anode mass transfer, resulting in an improvement in peak power density and voltage stability of the bi‐cell compared to the TAFF structure. In addition, the bi‐cell with SAFF achieves its highest peak power density at a lower methanol concentration, alleviating the methanol crossover caused by high concentration. The SAFF structure is an attractive choice for DMFC portable applications.