Computational Fluid Dynamics for Direct Methanol, Direct Formic Acid, and Alkaline Fuel Cells: Comparison the Net Power with Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Different types of fuel cells are studied in order to clarify the best application for each type. The current paper includes a comparative research of basic design, working principle, applications, advantages and disadvantages of various technologies available for fuel cells, experimentally. In this work, the overall diffusion layer thickness was evaluated based on the measured catalyst layer thickness and plain carbon cloth technical data. The voltages/current characteristics were first acquired for the lowest concentration around 0.1 to 0.2 M for DMFC, PEMFC, and DFAFC. In the case of DFAFC, the increase in FA concentration from 0.1, 0.2, 1 M enhanced the DFAFC power densities. In the case of DFAFC 2.0 M, the increase in the concentration caused an increasing in power densities, possibly related to the enhanced crossover of the fuel. The AFC exhibited almost the highest operating efficiency compared with DMFC and DFAFC. There for the performance sequencing of these fuel cells based on their power densities can be resulted as follows AFC > DFAFC > DMFC > PEMFC. It was also discussed that although all types of fuel cells operate on similar basis; Alkaline is the most efficient (75%), followed by Direct formic acid (DFAFC) (50%) and Direct Methanol (DMFC) (40%) in terms of power efficiency.