Fuel Cell Type #1: Methanol

The first type of fuel cell we looked at was one based on liquid methanol (CH3OH).

Within such a cell, the following reactions occur:

Anode
Cathode
Overall reaction

The advantage of a methanol fuel cell is its energy density. A unit of methanol stores far more energy than highly compressed hydrogen and 15 times more than a lithium ion cell. However, they only provide a small amount of power over a longer period of time. Thus, they can only be used for low-demand devices such as cameras, phones, and laptops, but not high-demand devices like vehicles.