Over the past 15 years, the electrical performance of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) has increased at least tenfold. With this advancement, portable DMFC-powered devices have come to fruition along with dramatic improvement in small power plant an...
Over the past 15 years, the electrical performance of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) has increased at least tenfold. With this advancement, portable DMFC-powered devices have come to fruition along with dramatic improvement in small power plant and transportation applications. While the DMFC has a theoretical energy density of 6094 W h/kg, only 1000-3200 W h/kg of this energy is realized in practice. Although most portable power applications only necessitate several W h/kg, performance and cost issues associated with polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs), anode and cathode catalysts, system design, and operational considerations must be overcome for DMFCs to have a role in the methanol economy. This review covers mostly the chemistry aspects of DMFCs.