Researchers at at the Institute of Electronics, Microelectronics and Nanotechnology (IEMN) in France and Sharp Corporation have pushed the state of the art in methanol fuel cells with micro-sized direct methanol fuel cells (microDMFC), achieving significantly improved fuel efficiency at room temperature.

The energy density (measured in watt-hours per liter) of the new fuel cells is 385 Wh/L, compared to lithium ions batteries’ 270 Wh/L. While previous fuel cells have achieved higher power density, they haven’t operated at room temperature, which is essential for a commercial product.

According to IEMN’s Dr. Steve Arscott, the biggest challenges facing micro fuel cells are: (i) high-performance room-temperature operation, (ii) miniaturization for on-chip use, (iii) compatibility with existing system fabrication (CMOS, for example), (iv) avoidance of complicated pumps for fuel and air which use energy themselves, (v) use of an efficient silicon-based proton exchange membrane and diffusion layers (novel porous layers for example), (vi) full integration with a microchannel architecture, and (vii) fuel storage.