A direct methanol fuel cell includes a cathode electrode, an anode electrode and a membrane located between the anode electrode and the cathode electrode. An anode hydrophilic microporous plate (HMP) is located at an anode side of the fuel cell. The anode HMP has a front side and a back side opposite the front side, and the front side is positioned closer to the anode electrode than the back side. An anode gas diffusion layer is located in an anode chamber defined between the anode electrode and the anode HMP. A flow of methanol fuel is introduced into the back side of the anode hydrophilic microporous plate or to the anode chamber.

An electrochemical reaction cell comprising an anode electrode, a cathode electrode, and a membrane electrode assembly (MEA). The MEA is positioned between the anode electrode and the cathode electrode. The anode electrode, the cathode electrode, and the MEA each have a corrugated shape and are contained within a recess of a housing.

A composite proton conductive membrane, comprising an inorganic filler having covalently bonded acidic functional groups and a high surface area of at least 150 m.sup.2/g; and a water insoluble ionically conductive polymer. This membrane provides advantages over traditional polymeric proton conductive membranes for redox flow battery, fuel cell, and electrolysis applications include: 1) enhanced proton conductivity/permeance due to the formation of additional nanochannels for proton conducting; 2) improved proton/electrolyte selectivity for redox flow battery application; 3) reduced membrane swelling and gas or electrolyte crossover; 4) improved chemical stability; 5) increased cell operation time with stable performance, and 6) reduced membrane cost.

A close-end fuel cell and an anode bipolar plate thereof are provided. The anode bipolar plate includes an airtight conductive frame and a conductive porous substrate disposed within the airtight conductive frame. In the airtight conductive frame, an edge of a first side has a fuel inlet, and an edge of a second side has a fuel outlet. The conductive porous substrate has at least one flow channel, where a first end of the flow channel communicates with the fuel inlet, a second end of the flow channel communicates with the fuel outlet. The flow channel is provided with a blocking part near the fuel inlet to divide the flow channel into two areas.

The present invention relates to a gas diffusion layer including a porous carbonaceous film layer for a fuel cell, in which the average pore diameter of the porous carbonaceous film layer is 0.1 μm to 100 μm, a membrane-electrode assembly including the gas diffusion layer, and a fuel cell including the membrane-electrode assembly.

A direct liquid fuel cell power generation device comprises a direct liquid fuel cell system and a low-temperature auxiliary starting component. A heat exchanger is arranged at a stack cathode inlet. The heat of a fuel solution at a stack anode outlet is used to heat the air. The heat generated by an electronic load for starting is used to heat a condenser. The heat of a methanol solution at a liquid outlet of a gas-liquid separator is used to preheat high-concentration fuel flowing into a refueling pump. Starting and operation in a low-temperature environment can be realized through auxiliary heating of external power supplies such as the low-temperature auxiliary starting component or an in-vehicle cigarette lighter. Organic micromolecule substances such as methanol and ethanol are used as fuel and are subjected to catalytic combustion in a catalytic combustor.

A method for fabricating an electrochemical sensor material includes positioning sheets of molded graphene nanoplatelets on each side of a proton exchange membrane and integrating graphene nanoplatelets into regions of the proton exchange membrane adjacent its surfaces by applying heat to increase the temperature of the proton exchange membrane to its glass transition temperature and applying compressive pressure to press a portion of each sheet of molded graphene nanoplatelets into the softened polymeric material of the proton exchange membrane. Following application of heat and pressure, the proton exchange membrane is cooled and excess graphene material is exfoliated. Electrochemical sensor components are cut from the material and electrochemical devices and systems are constructed therefrom.

Filtration systems and methods for purifying windshield washer fluid to yield methanol pure enough for fueling methanol fuel cell systems. Pumping commercially available windshield washer fluid through filtration systems having one or more filters can remove additives from the windshield washer fluid. The filtration systems include filters, such as activated carbon filters, nanofiltration filters, reverse osmosis filters, and ion exchange resin filters.

Filtration systems and methods for purifying windshield washer fluid to yield methanol pure enough for fueling methanol fuel cell systems. Pumping commercially available windshield washer fluid through filtration systems having one or more filters can remove additives from the windshield washer fluid. The filtration systems include filters, such as activated carbon filters, nanofiltration filters, reverse osmosis filters, and ion exchange resin filters.

According to the invention, a method for parallel condensation and evaporation is provided for a fuel cell system with a condensation/evaporation device. In this case, the condensation-evaporation device (KVV) has a condensation chamber and an evaporation chamber, which are thermally coupled to one another via a heat exchanger so that water vapor contained in the condensation chamber in exhaust gas of a fuel cell stack is condensed into water and in the evaporation chamber a liquid fuel of a two-phase mixture comprising the liquid fuel and a gas phase, are at least partially vaporized to fuel vapor. In this case, the energy required for evaporation is at least partially provided by waste heat from an exhaust gas of a fuel cell stack of a fuel cell and the associated energy withdrawal from the exhaust gas of a fuel cell stack is used for condensation. The present invention is characterized in that the gas phase comprises a carrier gas which is CO.sub.2.