Effects of dissolved iron and chromium on the performance of direct methanol fuel cell

Effects of Fe3+ and Cr3+ ions on the performance of direct methanol fuel cell were investigated. The results show that the cell performance decreased remarkably when the concentration of Fe3+ or Cr3+ exceeded 1 × 10−4 mol L−1. Fe3+ displayed a strong negative effect on the catalytic oxidation of methanol, while Cr3+ affected the cell performance primarily by exchanging with protons of the membrane/ionomer and resulted in ionic conductivity losses. Complete recovery of the cell performance was not obtained after flushing the cell with deionized water.