Performance of an active direct methanol fuel cell fed with neat methanol

► An active DMFC fed with a neat methanol was firstly fabricated and successfully operated. ► The neat methanol use was enabled by the electrode structure with a porous carbon plate. ► A similar performance compared with that of the conventional DMFC with a very low air-flow rate. ► It showed 62 mW cm−2 power density and 0.28 overall efficiency at 65 °C.