Performance investigation and effect of temperature on a passive μDMFC with stainless steel mesh

In this paper, we provide a novel type of micro-direct methanol fuel cell (μDMFC) fabricated with two stainless steel plates as metal current collectors. In order to improve cell performance, two sheets of stainless steel mesh (SSM) are added between the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) and current collectors. To avoid electrochemical corrosion, titanium nitride (TiN) layers with thickness of 500 nm are deposited onto the surface of current collectors and stainless steel mesh. The results show that the embedded stainless steel mesh can remarkably reduce the interior impedance of the μDMFC. Moreover, compared with μDMFC without SSM, the novel cell exhibits a more outstanding performance, yielding a maximum power density of 54.4 mW cm−2 at 80 °C.