Fabrication and evaluation of a passive alkaline membrane micro direct methanol fuel cell

•The feasibility to microfabricate a passive μADMFC is demonstrated.•Different configurations of alkaline MEAs are compared.•This work reveals the operational aspects of a passive μADMFC at room temperature.

A passive silicon microfabricated direct methanol fuel cell employing a polymer anion exchange membrane has been identified as a promising integrable power supply for portable devices in the MEMS field. In this work the fabrication steps of the different components: silicon current collectors and membrane-electrode assembly (MEA), as well as the mounting approach and performance evaluation for the whole passive alkaline micro air-breathing direct methanol fuel cell (μADMFC) are shown. This system, with a small active area of 0.25 cm2, was tested near of the real application conditions with totally passive fueling and at room temperature. Different MEA configurations and methanol and KOH concentrations were compared. Best performance was observed for the MEA with a previously sprayed catalytic layer on carbon cloth instead of the MEAs with the catalytic layer deposited directly onto the alkaline membrane. A maximum power density of 2.2 mW cm−2 was achieved for 15 μL of 1 M methanol + 4 M KOH fuel solution.