Transient analysis of a Direct Methanol fuel cell anode

A mathematical model has been developed to study the transient analysis of the methanol oxidation process on the anode of a Direct Methanol fuel cell. The model has been developed using first principles equations to study the concentration profiles of methanol across the anode backing layer, anode catalyst layer and the membrane. Model results indicate that the kinetics of the methanol oxidation process in the anode catalyst layer plays a more important role than the diffusion process in deciding the concentration profiles across the anode backing layer/anode catalyst layer and membrane. Model results indicate that both the temperature and methanol concentration play an important role in determining cell current density. Simulation results also indicate that the potential drop across the membrane plays a negligible role in determining cell current density. Model results are compared with experimental anode overpotential curves and cell polarization curves and are found to compare very well with experimental data.