中国有色金属学报(英文版)
Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China
| Vol. 23 No. 7 July 2013 |
（Key Laboratory of Surface Functional Structure Manufacturing of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China）
Abstract:Fabrication, characterization and performance of a porous metal-fiber sintered felt (PMFSF) based on multi-tooth cutting and solid-phase sintering were studied. The PMFSF was used as the anodic methanol barrier in a passive air-breathing direct methanol fuel cell to mitigate the effects of methanol crossover. Compared with the commercial SUS316L felt made of bundle-drawn fibers, this self-made PMFSF has larger pore diameter, polarized pore distribution, irregular fiber shape, rougher surface, lower mass flow resistance and evident hydrophobicity. The results reveal that the use of a PMFSF significantly enhances the cell performance since it helps to maintain a balance between the reactant and product management while depressing methanol crossover. The PMFSF with a porosity of 70% yields the highest cell performance at a methanol concentration of 4 mol/L.
Key words: porous metal; metal fiber; sintered felt; cutting; pore distribution; fuel cell
