Passive direct methanol fuel cells for portable electronic devices

Due to the increasing demand for electricity, clean, renewable energy resources must be developed. Thus, the objective of the present study was to develop a passive direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) for portable electronic devices. The power output of six dual DMFCs connected in series with an active area of 4Â cm2 was approximately 600Â mW, and the power density of the DMFCs was 25Â mWÂ cm-2. The DMFCs were evaluated as a power source for mobile phone chargers and media players. The results indicated that the open circuit voltage of the DMFC was between 6.0Â V and 6.5Â V, and the voltage under operating conditions was 4.0Â V. The fuel cell was tested on a variety of cell phone chargers, media players and PDAs. The cost of energy consumption by the proposed DMFC was estimated to be USD 20Â W-1, and the cost of methanol is USD 4Â kWÂ h. Alternatively, the local conventional electricity tariff is USD 2Â kWÂ h. However, for the large-scale production of electronic devices, the cost of methanol will be significantly lower. Moreover, the electricity tariff is expected to increase due to the constraints of fossil fuel resources and pollution. As a result, DMFCs will become competitive with conventional power sources.