Titanium carbide/carbon nanofibers film as flexible gas diffusion layers for passive direct methanol fuel cells

Summary Direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) is considered as one of the next‐generation power sources for portable electronic devices. However, the problems of structure and materials of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) must be resolved if it is applied in flexible electronic devices. The traditional materials of MEA used in DMFC cannot bend and are easy to break. Moreover, the existence of a microporous layer increases the likelihood of separation of the gas diffusion layer (GDL) and catalytic layer. Herein, we develop a simple electrospinning method to prepare flexible titanium carbide/carbon nanofibers (TiC/CNFs) film used as GDL. TiC/CNFs film plays a GDL and a microporous layer dual role. The MEA exhibits enhancing performance and excellent flexibility. The maximum power density of flexible DMFC can reach 20.2 mW/cm2, compared with the GDL made of traditional carbon cloth (18.1 mW/cm2), the maximum power density rises by 11.6%. After 50 consecutive bends, the voltage drops less than 10%. This work would promote the flexibility of DMFC. This work successfully developed a simple electrospinning method to prepare flexible titanium carbide/carbon nanofibers (TiC/CNFs) film used as GDL and microporous layer of MEA, which exhibits enhancing performance and excellent flexibility. The maximum power density of flexible DMFC (20.2 mW/cm2) rises by 11.6% compared with the GDL made of traditional carbon cloth (18.1 mW/cm2), the voltage drops less than 10% after 50 consecutive bends. Results suggest that the new flexible GDL can effectively reduce the charge transfer resistance and enhance the catalytic activity of the catalyst.