Two kinds of micro Direct Methanol Fuel Cells(μ-DMFC) characterized by simple configurations

small sizes and high specific power densities are presented by using silicon and stainless steel as poles in this paper.The working principle and structure of the μ-DMFC are introduced. Then

the silicon μ-DMFC is accomplished using Micro Electro Mechanic System(MEMS) technologies such as lithography

depositing and etching. Experimental results show that the open circuit voltage is 520 mV and the peak power density can reach 5.9 mW/cm

2

for the silicon μ-DMFC at room temperature when the molar concentration of methanol solution is 1.5 mol/L. Moreover

the stainless steel μ-DMFC is fabricated using a non-silicon micromachining technology

and it can offer an open circuit voltage of 650 mV and a peak power density of 15.8 mW/cm

2

under the 2 mol/L methanol solution at room temperature.It is concluded that the performance of the stainless steel μ-DMFC is greatly better than that of the silicon μ-DMFC.