Performance Improvement In Direct Methanol Fuel Cell By Using A Novel Porous Flow Field Made Of Sintered Metal Powder

摘要

It is important to reduce the diffusion polarization for achieving higher performance in direct methanol fuelrncells (DMFC). The previous research has shown the performance improvement by applying a metal foam type porousrnstainless steel made by a metal-plating method to the separator flow field of a DMFC. This porous flow field enabled DMFCrnto operate with higher power output than conventional straight groove type separator especially at higher current densities.rnDiffusion polarization was especially reduced by the porous flow field. This current paper experimentally analyzes the effectrnof a new type porous flow field that is made of a sintered spherical metal powder. The results show that the sintered metalrnpowder flow field exhibits higher effect in performance improvement of DMFC than the metal foam type porous flow fieldrnused in the previous research. The power density with the sintered metal powder porous flow field can be three times higherrnthan that with a straight groove type flow field having the same flow field volume and depth.