Experimental and Modeling Studies of Paper Based Methanol Fuel Cell

• Published in: ECS transactions 2017-01, Vol.80 (10), p.843-849
• Main Authors: Lal, Sweta, Janardhanan, Vinod M, Deepa, Melepurath, Sahu, Kirti Chandra
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1938-5862; 1938-6737; 1938-6737; 1938-5862
• DOI: 10.1149/08010.0843ecst

We develop a T-shaped paper based methanol (CH3OH) fuel cell consisting of two L-shaped paper strips, separated by a polyacryl amide (PAM) gel. With 0.25 ml of anolyte and catholyte, the cell delivers the maximum power density of 0.9 mW/cm2 at 4M CH3OH. Hydrothermally synthesized N-rGO, NiCo2O4 (NCO) and NCO@N-rGO are implemented as catalysts. Further, with 6 wt% N-rGO in NCO@N-rGO composite catalyst deposited at both electrodes, the cell delivers peak power density of 4.67 mW/cm2 and maximum current density of 15.6 mA/cm2. This result shows an increase of 418% in the peak power density as compared to a cell without any catalyst. A mathematical model based on Butler-Volmer equation is formulated to predict the cell voltages at different experimental conditions. The numerically obtained dc- polarization curves agree well with the experimental measurements.