Experimental investigations on the effect of cell orientation and current collector circular perforations size on the passive direct methanol fuel cell performance

Abstract This paper examines the influence of cell orientation, circular hole size on the current collector, gasket thickness, ambient temperature, and short‐term voltage stability on the performance of a passive direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). Experiments were conducted with the fuel cell oriented in both horizontal and vertical configurations. The influence of two different circular hole diameters, 3.80 and 3.45 mm, on a perforated SS316L current collector was experimentally evaluated while maintaining the same open ratio of 45.40%. The results indicate that the horizontally oriented cell exhibits superior performance compared to the vertically oriented configuration, along with improved voltage stability. A smaller circular hole diameter (~3 mm) on the current collector resulted in a higher maximum power density compared to larger hole sizes. In addition, a thinner gasket thickness of 0.2 mm provided better cell performance than thicker gaskets. The fuel cell performance enhanced with ambient temperature from 30 to 60°C, beyond which a decline in performance was observed. A passive DMFC assembly was fabricated with an active area of 25 cm 2 (5 cm × 5 cm).