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A Twelve Stack Direct Methanol Fuel Cell

A Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC) is an electrochemical device that takes a liquid fuel, in this case a methanol water solution, and uses it to make electricity. Since fuel cells are used to directly convert chemicals to energy, they are very often compared to batteries, specifically rechargeable batteries.

A difference between rechargeable batteries and fuel cells is that fuel cells can be recharged instantly, you just have to add more fuel. The advantage of DMFC technology over other fuel cell technology is that DMFC use a liquid fuel, one that is easy to handle. DMFC technology was developed at JPL in the early 1990s.