A novel single electrode supported direct methanol fuel cell

In this paper a single electrode supported direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) is fabricated and tested. The novel architecture combines the elimination of the polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) and the integration of the anode and cathode into one component. The thin film fabrication involves a sequential deposition of an anode catalyst layer, a cellulose acetate electronic insulating layer and a cathode catalyst layer onto a single carbon fibre paper substrate. The single electrode supported DMFC has a total thickness of 3.88 × 10−2 cm and showed a 104% improvement in volumetric specific power density over a two electrode DMFC configuration under passive conditions at ambient temperature and pressure (1 atm, 25 °C).