This paper introduces a micro direct methanol fuel cell (μDMFC) with an embedded self-pumping mechanism to deliver liquid fuel. The fuel is propelled by the CO{sub}2 bubbles generated by the fuel-cell electrochemical reaction, and the bubbles are removed from the system during the self-pumping process. Furthermore, the pumping rate is self-regulated by the reaction, i.e., by the electric load. By eliminating the need for a pump and gas/liquid separator, our design allows much simpler fuel-cell systems, which is especially beneficial for miniaturization. Although we test with μDMFC in this paper, the mechanism applies to other membrane electrode assembly (MEA)-based fuel cells with organic liquid fuels as well.
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