A systematic study of operational parameters on performance and ethanol crossover of direct ethanol fuel cell by design of experiment

Direct ethanol fuel cells are promising technologies for zero-carbon energy production. Operating the
cell properly both at the anode and cathode is a critical step in achieving high cell performance. In this
research, the significance of the anode operating parameters compared to that of the cathode on the cell
performance and fuel crossover was investigated by using a full factorial design of experiment. The factors
considered were cell temperature, ethanol flow rate and concentration, and oxygen flow rate and concentration.
The analysis of variance showed that the anode operating parameters had contributed more to the
direct ethanol fuel cell’s performance and the ethanol crossover than did the cathode operating parameters.
The three most influential parameters, enhancing both the power density and the ethanol crossover,
were the cell temperature, ethanol concentration, and their interaction. The increases in the oxygen flow
rate and concentration alleviated the negative effect on the ethanol crossover.