Development of a passive mini-direct ethanol fuel cell : effect of mea assembly parameters by hot pressure.

Abstract

This paper presents preliminary results on the design, construction and evaluation of a passive mini direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC), capillary fed with 2 mol l-1 aqueous ethanol, at a rate of 2.03 μL min-1, and air oxygen in the cathode through an air vent. Parameters such as pressure, temperature and time of manufacturing a membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) by hot-pressure were evaluated. As the electrode holder used a 0.25 cm2 carbon tissue which was deposited on the catalytic layer (C. L.) for both the anode (0.8 mg cm-2 of PtRu/C) and the cathode (0.8 mg cm-2 of Pt/C), Nafi on® 115 membranes were used as the electrolyte. The results show, an average power density of 302 μWcm2 under the best conditions used, a catalytic layer with a Nafi on percentage of 50% at 25 °C. A temperature of 125 °C, a pressure of 49.2 Kg/cm2, and 90 seconds duration were used to obtain the MEA.