Wire mesh current collectors for passive direct methanol fuel cells

•Feasibility of stainless steel wire mesh as current collector (CC) in passive DMFC is investigated.•A novel single cell fixture is designed and fabricated.•Five different wire meshes are used as CC.•Wire mesh CC exhibited better fuel distribution at anode catalyst layer compared to conventional CC.•Identifies the wire mesh as promising material to be used as CC.

This paper examines the feasibility of the stainless steel wire mesh as current collector in the passive direct methanol fuel cell (DMFCs-W). A novel single cell fixture is designed and fabricated. The cell performance is evaluated and compared with five different wire mesh current collectors. The supporting plates are optimized for every mesh. The performance of DMFCs-W is compared with the conventional passive DMFC which uses perforated metal plate as current collector (DMFC-P). The polarization tests and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy are performed to investigate the different aspects of the cell performance. The results reveal that the DMFCs-W yield better performance than the DMFC-P. Also, more uniform fuel distribution at catalyst layer and higher cell temperature is achieved with wire mesh current collectors. It is found that the wire mesh geometry has significant effect on the cell performance and the mesh made of relatively thick wires gives better cell performance. This study identifies the stainless steel wire mesh as promising material to be used as current collector and potential substitute to the perforated plate current collectors in the passive DMFC.