Fuel cell technology has attained significant appeal as a form of renewable energy in recent years due to its diverse applications, various fuel types, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Of the various fuel cell types, direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) hold a set of distinct advantages for stationary and small portable applications. These advantages include faster refueling compared to battery charging, high gravimetric energy density, and ease of production and use compared to hydrogen. However, the DMFC has numerous technical hurdles that prevent its widespread adoption into the commercial market. Namely, the slow reaction kinetics in the anode and the crossover of unreacted fuel from the anode to the cathode. This work aims to optimize multiple facets of the DMFC to improve its peak power density, fuel efficiency, and energy density. Likewise, in-situ measurements of fuel crossover will be collected and analyzed to determine a given characteristic's influence on fuel crossover. First, an optimal catalyst ink design will be assessed by considering factors such as ionomer-to-catalyst ratios, solvent and substrate selection, and briefly, catalyst mass loading. Then, the use of a vapor feed direct methanol fuel cell (VFDMFC) will be employed and characteristics such as fuel concentration, flow rate, and inclusion of water management layers (WMLs) will enable the use of pure methanol and determine an optimal setup to improve the VFDMFCs efficiency and energy density. Lastly, other factors such as the use of pure oxygen, backpressure, and operating temperature will be tested to achieve superior peak power density compared to conventional DMFCs. These approaches will be detrimental to the success of the DMFC, increasing their attraction as an energy source due to reduced fuel crossover, increased efficiency, and improved power density.
","abstract_html":"<p>Fuel cell technology has attained significant appeal as a form of renewable energy in recent years due to its diverse applications, various fuel types, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Of the various fuel cell types, direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) hold a set of distinct advantages for stationary and small portable applications. These advantages include faster refueling compared to battery charging, high gravimetric energy density, and ease of production and use compared to hydrogen. However, the DMFC has numerous technical hurdles that prevent its widespread adoption into the commercial market. Namely, the slow reaction kinetics in the anode and the crossover of unreacted fuel from the anode to the cathode. This work aims to optimize multiple facets of the DMFC to improve its peak power density, fuel efficiency, and energy density. Likewise, in-situ measurements of fuel crossover will be collected and analyzed to determine a given characteristic's influence on fuel crossover. First, an optimal catalyst ink design will be assessed by considering factors such as ionomer-to-catalyst ratios, solvent and substrate selection, and briefly, catalyst mass loading. Then, the use of a vapor feed direct methanol fuel cell (VFDMFC) will be employed and characteristics such as fuel concentration, flow rate, and inclusion of water management layers (WMLs) will enable the use of pure methanol and determine an optimal setup to improve the VFDMFCs efficiency and energy density. Lastly, other factors such as the use of pure oxygen, backpressure, and operating temperature will be tested to achieve superior peak power density compared to conventional DMFCs. These approaches will be detrimental to the success of the DMFC, increasing their attraction as an energy source due to reduced fuel crossover, increased efficiency, and improved power density.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Spragg, Ryan"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Xianglin Li","Dr. Vijay Ramani Dr. Ramesh Agarwal"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-12-12T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2024-12-12T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:12:58Z","subjects":["Fuel Cells","Direct Methanol Fuel Cells","Renewable Energy","Two-phase flow","Vapor Feed","Pure Methanol","Energy Systems","Engineering","Mechanical Engineering"],"languages":["English (en)"],"rights":["I have not registered my thesis with the U.S. Copyright Office, and do not intend to."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/eng_etds/1113"],"render_values":[{"text":"https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/eng_etds/1113","href":"https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/eng_etds/1113","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://doi.org/10.7936/rwzj-8e14","outbound_label":"DOI","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Xianglin Li","Dr. Vijay Ramani Dr. Ramesh Agarwal"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Spragg, Ryan"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2024-12-12T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science","McKelvey School of Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Fuel Cells","Direct Methanol Fuel Cells","Renewable Energy","Two-phase flow","Vapor Feed","Pure Methanol","Energy Systems","Engineering","Mechanical Engineering"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English (en)"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["I have not registered my thesis with the U.S. Copyright Office, and do not intend to."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://doi.org/10.7936/rwzj-8e14","https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/eng_etds/1113"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["I was told there was an issue with page numbering returning an error on the Abstract page. I do not see this error in my document. Likewise, it does not show up on this submissions either.
"]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Fuel cell technology has attained significant appeal as a form of renewable energy in recent years due to its diverse applications, various fuel types, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Of the various fuel cell types, direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) hold a set of distinct advantages for stationary and small portable applications. These advantages include faster refueling compared to battery charging, high gravimetric energy density, and ease of production and use compared to hydrogen. However, the DMFC has numerous technical hurdles that prevent its widespread adoption into the commercial market. Namely, the slow reaction kinetics in the anode and the crossover of unreacted fuel from the anode to the cathode. This work aims to optimize multiple facets of the DMFC to improve its peak power density, fuel efficiency, and energy density. Likewise, in-situ measurements of fuel crossover will be collected and analyzed to determine a given characteristic's influence on fuel crossover. First, an optimal catalyst ink design will be assessed by considering factors such as ionomer-to-catalyst ratios, solvent and substrate selection, and briefly, catalyst mass loading. Then, the use of a vapor feed direct methanol fuel cell (VFDMFC) will be employed and characteristics such as fuel concentration, flow rate, and inclusion of water management layers (WMLs) will enable the use of pure methanol and determine an optimal setup to improve the VFDMFCs efficiency and energy density. Lastly, other factors such as the use of pure oxygen, backpressure, and operating temperature will be tested to achieve superior peak power density compared to conventional DMFCs. These approaches will be detrimental to the success of the DMFC, increasing their attraction as an energy source due to reduced fuel crossover, increased efficiency, and improved power density.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Direct Methanol Fuel Cells Using Pure Methanol"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Xianglin Li","Dr. Vijay Ramani Dr. Ramesh Agarwal"],"dc:creator":["Spragg, Ryan"],"dc:date.available":["2024-12-12T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description":["I was told there was an issue with page numbering returning an error on the Abstract page. I do not see this error in my document. Likewise, it does not show up on this submissions either.
"],"dc:description.abstract":["Fuel cell technology has attained significant appeal as a form of renewable energy in recent years due to its diverse applications, various fuel types, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Of the various fuel cell types, direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) hold a set of distinct advantages for stationary and small portable applications. These advantages include faster refueling compared to battery charging, high gravimetric energy density, and ease of production and use compared to hydrogen. However, the DMFC has numerous technical hurdles that prevent its widespread adoption into the commercial market. Namely, the slow reaction kinetics in the anode and the crossover of unreacted fuel from the anode to the cathode. This work aims to optimize multiple facets of the DMFC to improve its peak power density, fuel efficiency, and energy density. Likewise, in-situ measurements of fuel crossover will be collected and analyzed to determine a given characteristic's influence on fuel crossover. First, an optimal catalyst ink design will be assessed by considering factors such as ionomer-to-catalyst ratios, solvent and substrate selection, and briefly, catalyst mass loading. Then, the use of a vapor feed direct methanol fuel cell (VFDMFC) will be employed and characteristics such as fuel concentration, flow rate, and inclusion of water management layers (WMLs) will enable the use of pure methanol and determine an optimal setup to improve the VFDMFCs efficiency and energy density. Lastly, other factors such as the use of pure oxygen, backpressure, and operating temperature will be tested to achieve superior peak power density compared to conventional DMFCs. These approaches will be detrimental to the success of the DMFC, increasing their attraction as an energy source due to reduced fuel crossover, increased efficiency, and improved power density.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://doi.org/10.7936/rwzj-8e14","https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/eng_etds/1113"],"dc:language":["English (en)"],"dc:rights":["I have not registered my thesis with the U.S. Copyright Office, and do not intend to."],"dc:subject":["Fuel Cells","Direct Methanol Fuel Cells","Renewable Energy","Two-phase flow","Vapor Feed","Pure Methanol","Energy Systems","Engineering","Mechanical Engineering"],"dc:title":["Direct Methanol Fuel Cells Using Pure Methanol"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science","McKelvey School of Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:12:58Z"}