A fuel cell is a power generation system for producing electrical energy through an electrochemical redox reaction of an oxidant and hydrogen in a hydrocarbon-based material such as methanol, ethanol, or natural gas.
Representative exemplary fuel cells include a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) and a direct oxidation fuel cell (DOFC). The direct oxidation fuel cell includes a direct methanol fuel cell, which uses methanol as a fuel.
The polymer electrolyte fuel cell has an advantage of a high energy density, but it also has problems in the need to carefully handle hydrogen gas and the requirement of accessory equipment such as a fuel reforming processor for reforming methane or methanol, natural gas, and the like in order to produce hydrogen as the fuel gas.
In comparison, a direct oxidation fuel cell has a lower energy density than that of the polymer electrolyte fuel cell, but it has the advantages of easy handling of a fuel, being capable of operating at a room temperature due to its low operating temperature, and no need for additional fuel reforming processors.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention, and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.