The performance of monolithic hybrid direct methanol fuel cell

A novel resistive-capacitive-inductive transmission-line equivalent circuit was used to model a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). This fuel cell model was developed and improved from existing impedance fuel cell model and transmission-line fuel cell model. The resistive-capacitive-inductive transmission line model can properly describe the inductive and capacitive behaviors of the DMFC operating in both low and high frequency regions. The advantages of this transmission line fuel cell model have been discussed based on Mueller's experimental impedance spectrum of DMFC (1). Finally, the model has been used to estimate the optimum capacitive materials loading in the monolithic hybrid DMFC (2). The numerical simulation proved that increasing double-layer capacitance of the DMFC can provide a good dynamic performance similar to the DMFC connected with a discrete supercapacitor in parallel.