Fabrication and characterization of a passive silicon microfabricated direct methanol fuel cell (&mgr;DMFC) are reported.
The main characteristics of the device are its capability to work without complex pumping systems, only by capillary
pressure, and the fact that its performance is not affected by the device orientation. A simple fabrication process, based in
DRIE (Deep Reactive Ion Etching), allows obtaining a reliable and low-cost final device. The device consists of two
silicon microfabricated plates mounted together with a commercial membrane electrode assembly (MEA). Current-voltage
(I-V) and current-power (I-P) curves of the device at different methanol concentration, orientation and geometric
variation of silicon plates are presented. Optimal performance was obtained with a methanol concentration of 3M, that
yielded a maximum power density of 10.5 mW/cm2. The results obtained in this work demonstrate the feasibility of the
device and give a guideline for design and conditions optimization.
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