Neuartiges Herstellungsverfahren für Direkt-Methanol-Brennstoffzellen (DMFC) durch definierte Schichtstrukturen

Abstract

A novel method to prepare membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) by a layer-upon-layer fabrication onto a porous substrate is presented. The novel preparation technique is based on a single method for the fabrication of the whole MEA, e.g. spraying one functional layer onto the other, and therefore simplifies its preparation considerably. It also permits new fuel cell designs with in-plane serial connection of single cells by appropriate fabrication procedures. It is therefore especially suited for low power Micro Fuel Cells operated at ambient conditions. This novel method offers high flexibility in the choice of cell geometry as well as superior control of the structural parameters of the layer. In this work, process parameters enabling such a layer-upon-layer MEA preparation have been developed successfully. Results with single cells prepared with the new technique are presented and compared with conventionally fabricated MEAs. A planar multi-cell configuration is proposed and issues concerning serial connection in this concept are discussed.