Membranes for Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Applications: analysis based on characterization, experimentation and modeling

Abstract

A critical analysis is performed about fundamental aspects regarding the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) technology, focusing mainly on the proton exchange membrane (PEM). First, the basic DMFC operation principles, thermodynamic background and polarization characteristics are presented with a description of each of the components that comprise the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) and of the DMFC testsystem usually used for DMFC research. Next, the paper focuses particularly on the PEM development chain, performing an overview of the research progress regarding this DMFC component. Specific efforts are devoted to research aspects related with the membrane preparation, characterization, DMFC tests and modeling. Apart from this, recent achievements at our research groups regarding the PEM development for DMFC applications are emphasized.