Titanium carbide/carbon nanofibers film as flexible gas diffusion layers for passive direct methanol fuel cells

Direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) is considered as one of the next-generation power sources for portable electronic devices. However, the problems of structure and materials of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) must be resolved if it is applied in flexible electronic devices. The traditional materials of MEA used in DMFC cannot bend and are easy to break. Moreover, the existence of a microporous layer increases the likelihood of separation of the gas diffusion layer (GDL) and catalytic layer. Herein, we develop a simple electrospinning method to prepare flexible titanium carbide/carbon nanofibers (TiC/CNFs) film used as GDL. TiC/CNFs film plays a GDL and a microporous layer dual role. The MEA exhibits enhancing performance and excellent flexibility. The maximum power density of flexible DMFC can reach 20.2 mW/cm(2), compared with the GDL made of traditional carbon cloth (18.1 mW/cm(2)), the maximum power density rises by 11.6%. After 50 consecutive bends, the voltage drops less than 10%. This work would promote the flexibility of DMFC.

Automated summary

The direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) is considered a next-generation power source for portable electronic devices. However, the structure and materials of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) need to be addressed for its application in flexible electronic devices. In this study, researchers developed a flexible titanium carbide/carbon nanofibers (TiC/CNFs) film using an electrospinning method, which served as both a gas diffusion layer (GDL) and a microporous layer. The TiC/CNFs film exhibited enhanced performance and excellent flexibility in the DMFC.