A technological, economical and efficiency review of direct methanol fuel cell

A fuel cell mostly converts chemical energy into electrical energy using redox reactions at both anode and cathode. Fuel cell mostly utilizes hydrogen or hydrogen-rich fuel as a reductant at the anode side of the cell. This paper discusses the drawbacks of the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) in efficiency and power density. However, methanol is high energy dense, safest, easy storage and transportation as compared to volatile, difficult to store and highly flammable hydrogen. Several researchers are working to enhance the efficiency of direct methanol fuel cell. Different parameters that affect fuel cell performance have been discussed in this review. Methanol crossover, Heat and water management impact on cell working is also discussed. Among these different methods, one method is to produce such electrodes that can increase cell potential and efficiency. Electro-spinning is a method to create Nano-fiber electrodes with required porosity and increased area or catalyst. Several other aspects such as storage, transportation, production of methanol are also discussed in this study.