Abstract
The alcohols (methanol, ethanol, and 1βpropanol) crossover behavior of through fuel cell membrane electrode assembly (MEA) in direct alcohol fuel cell (DAFC) system was studied. We divided five different factors which affect alcohol crossover behavior through MEA to analyze alcohol crossover behavior. Those are membrane effect, physical blocking effect of anode, alcohol oxidation effect of anode electrocatalysts, physical blocking effect of cathode, and alcohol oxidation effect of cathode. Among these five factors, the four factors caused by two different electrodes (anode and cathode) were evaluated by fabricating various types of MEA. In the case of alcohols through membrane without any electrode was increased when the cell temperature was raised from room temperature to 100βΒ°C, but it was decreased above the cell temperature of 100βΒ°C. Among the electrode effects on alcohol crossover rate, physical blocking effect of electrodes played dominant role below 100βΒ°C. However alcohol oxidation effects of electrodes was predominant above the 100βΒ°C.