PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT IN DIRECT METHANOL FUEL CELL BY USING A NOVEL POROUS FLOW FIELD MADE OF SINTERED METAL POWDER 2011-39-7261

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