An innovative passive DMFC technology

This paper describes recent advances in the passive technology of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) for portable applications made at the University of Connecticut (UConn). The effort on DMFCs at UConn includes work devoted to new planar stack hardware and work on system level design and engineering. The stack is lightweight and available in modules that can easily be assembled to meet the power requirements of specific applications. We specifically developed a DMFC system characterized in passive technology for methanol fuel delivery, water recirculation, air and thermal management. Such system technology lends itself to an attractive choice for portable power applications. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.