A micro passive direct methanol fuel cell with high performance via plasma electrolytic oxidation on aluminum-based substrate

In this paper, a μDMFC (micro direct methanol fuel cell) with high performance was fabricated by adopting aluminum alloys as a substrate for the first time. PEO (plasma electrolytic oxidation) was adopted to prepare an oxide coating on the substrate to make it electrically non-conductive and corrosion resistant. The PEO-treated substrate shows excellent corrosion resistance in the simulated DMFC environment. Based on the substrate, a μDMFC was fabricated by using stainless steel fiber felt as a cathode current collector that was supported by a perforate flow field on the end plate to reduce the contact resistance. The results show that the cell can provide a peak power density as high as 40.90 mW cm−2 at room temperature of ca. 298 K. The research work presented in this paper provides another way for the design and fabrication of μDMFC.