An overview of fuel management in direct methanol fuel cells

Fuel cells were an important technology that could be used for a variety of power applications. The direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) was a promising candidate for powering portable electronic devices such as laptops, digital cameras and cell phones. Compared with conventional batteries, DMFCs could provide a higher power density with a longer lifetime and almost instant recharging. However, many issues related to the design, fabrication and operation of miniaturised DMFC power systems remain unsolved. Fuel delivery was a key issue in determining the performance of a DMFC. To achieve the desired performance, an efficient fuel delivery system was required to provide an adequate amount of fuel for consumption and to remove the carbon dioxide generated in the fuel-cell devices. This paper presented a detailed description of various fuel flow-field designs for DMFCs and their respective advantages. This paper also discussed the current approaches and challenges in existing fuel delivery and fuel storage systems, including active and passive DMFCs and micro-fluidic systems. The commercialisation of DMFCs with storage was presented.