Xiaojun Yang

Manufacture, characterization and application of porous metal-fiber sintered felt used as mass-transfer-controlling medium for direct methanol fuel cells

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.

Porous Metal-Fiber Sintered Felt by Multi-Tooth Cutting and Sintering- Morphological Analysis and Mechanisms

This study provides a series of investigation on the morphological characteristics and related mechanisms of a porous metal-fiber sintered felt (PMFSF). Multi-tooth cutting and high-temperature solid-phase sintering are used to create the PMFSF. Based on both modeling and experimental methods, the results suggest that the produced fiber has rough surface and curled shape due to cutting deformation. The processing parameters and material mechanical property both have significant effects on formation of fiber morphology. Results also reveal that the fibers in a PMFSF is randomly distributed and connected with each other by forming sintering necks. Besides, the influences of sintering parameters are also analyzed in this work.