Rapid prototyping of micro-direct methanol fuel cell in PDMS with microchannel-integrated Nafion strip

Abstract

We demonstrate a planar direct methanol fuel cell by integrating a 200 µm-wide Nafion strip in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) structure. The design is based on two 200 µm-wide parallel microfluidic channels, sandwiching the Nafion strip. We mechanically clamp the PDMS/ Nafion assembly with a catalyst-covered glass chip and use 1 M CH3OH/ 0.5 M H2SO4 as fuel in the anodic channel and O2-saturated 0.5 M H2SO4 as oxidant solution in the cathodic channel. The fuel cell has a stable maximum power density of 0.52 mW/cm² at room temperature with fuel and oxidant flow rates in the 20–160 µL/min range.