Abstract
Direct Methanol Fuel Cell, DMFC, technology, can be used for fabrication of sensors for volatile organic compounds like alcohols. A fundamental limitation in DMFC is methanol crossover. In this process methanol diffuses from the anode through the electrolyte to the cathode, where it reacts directly with the oxygen and produces no electrical current from the cell. This also results in poisoning of the cathode catalysts. The designed and fabrication of the sensor is by means of micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) fabrication technology with electrochemical inputs. To achieve this we have used a passive mode design protocol using COMSOL Multiphysics. The design and simulation would involve optimization of various parameters, in the construction of the cell. We can optimize the overall power density and hence the sensitivity of the sensor by the modification of various parameters like the area of the working electrodes, separation distance and the electrode-electrolyte interface. A passive mode design protocol, for a cm cell area, using various parametric functions, and interfacing Darcy’s law of fluidic flow through a porous medium, under specific pressure and temperature, was applied. The designing involves the construction of gas diffusion layers using carbon cloth for anode and cathode with various parametric variations. Nafion membrane was selected as proton exchange membrane for the construction with different interface structure to analyze the sensor’s performance. Platinum and various alloy catalysts like Pt-Ru, Pt-Fe, Pt-Sn and Pt-Mo was chosen as the working catalysts. The parametric functions of the cell were optimized for ampherometric detection. It is proposed to design a MEMS based sensor with microfludic interconnects and its response characteristics will be studied.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
W.J. Yang, H.Y. Wang, and Y.B. Kim. Channel geometry optimization using a 2D fuel cell model and its verification for a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 39(17):9430–9439, June 2014.
Rongzhong Jiang and Deryn Chu. Water Crossover: A Challenge to DMFC System II. Simulation of Water Recycling in a 20 W DMFC System. J. Electrochem. Soc., 155(8):B804, August 2008.
W.W. Yang, T.S. Zhao, and C. Xu. Three-dimensional two-phase mass transport model for direct methanol fuel cells. Electrochim. Acta, 53(2):853–862, December 2007.
Wonseok Yoon and Xinyu Huang. A Multiphysics Model of PEM Fuel Cell Incorporating the Cell Compression Effects. J. Electrochem. Soc., 157(5):B680, May 2010.
Edmund J.F. Dickinson, Henrik Ekström, and Ed Fontes. COMSOL Multiphysics®: Finite element software for electrochemical analysis. A mini-review. Electrochem. commun., 40:71–74, March 2014.
Matteo Scaramuzza, Alberto Ferrario, Elisabetta Pasqualotto, and Alessandro De Toni. Development of an Electrode/Electrolyte Interface Model Based on Pseudo-Distributed Elements Combining COMSOL, MATLAB and HSPICE. Procedia Chem., 6:69–78, 2012.
E. U. Ubong, Z. Shi, and X. Wang. Three-Dimensional Modeling and Experimental Study of a High Temperature PBI-Based PEM Fuel Cell. J. Electrochem. Soc., 156(10):B1276, October 2009.
Shinji Motokawa, Mohamed Mohamedi, Toshiyuki Momma, Shuichi Shoji, and Tetsuya Osaka. MEMS-based design and fabrication of a new concept micro direct methanol fuel cell (μ-DMFC). Electrochem. commun., 6(6):562–565, June 2004.
K. Wallgren and S. Sotiropoulos. A Nafion®-based co-planar electrode amperometric sensor for methanol determination in the gas phase. J. Chem. Sci., 121(5):703–709, November 2009.
S.K. Kamarudin, W.R.W. Daud, S.L. Ho, and U.A. Hasran. Overview on the challenges and developments of micro-direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC). J. Power Sources, 163(2):743–754, January 2007.
Abhay Kulkarni and Xia Wang. Sensitivity Analysis of Some Key Gas Diffusion Layer Parameters in PEM Fuel Cells. In ECS Trans., volume 33, pages 25–37. The Electrochemical Society, March 2011.
William B. Zimmerman. Electrochemical microfluidics. Chem. Eng. Sci., 66(7):1412–1425, April 2011.
C. K. Subramaniam, N. Rajalakshmi, K. Ramya, and K. S. Dhathathreyan. High performance gas diffusion electrodes for PEMFC. Bull. Electrochem., 16(8):350–353, 2000.
K. G. Nishanth, P. Sridhar, S. Pitchumani, and A. K. Shukla. A DMFC with Methanol-Tolerant-Carbon-Supported-Pt-Pd-Alloy Cathode. J. Electrochem. Soc., 158(8):B871, August 2011.
Sanjeev Mukerjee. Role of Structural and Electronic Properties of Pt and Pt Alloys on Electrocatalysis of Oxygen Reduction. J. Electrochem. Soc., 142(5):1409, May 1995.
Rongzhong Jiang and Deryn Chu. Water Crossover: A Challenge to DMFC System I. Experimental Determination of Water Crossover. J. Electrochem. Soc., 155(8):B798, August 2008.
J.G. Liu, T.S. Zhao, R. Chen, and C.W. Wong. The effect of methanol concentration on the performance of a passive DMFC. Electrochem. commun., 7(3):288–294, March 2005.
Hubert A. Gasteiger, Nenad Markovic, Philip N. Ross, and Elton J. Cairns. Carbon monoxide electrooxidation on well-characterized platinum-ruthenium alloys. J. Phys. Chem., 98(2):617–625, January 1994.
J.W. Guo, T.S. Zhao, J. Prabhuram, R. Chen, and C.W. Wong. Preparation and characterization of a PtRu/C nanocatalyst for direct methanol fuel cells. Electrochim. Acta, 51(4):754–763, November 2005.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chittur K, S., S, M. Design and Simulation of methanol sensing devices using DMFC technology. MRS Online Proceedings Library 1774, 41–50 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1557/opl.2015.746
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/opl.2015.746