Patent ID: 8283089

Claim:
A direct methanol oxidation fuel cell comprising at least one unit cell, said unit cell comprising a membrane-electrode assembly including an electrolyte membrane and an anode and a cathode sandwiching said electrolyte membrane, an anode-side separator being in contact with said anode, and a cathode-side separator being in contact with said cathode, wherein said anode includes an anode catalyst layer and an anode diffusion layer, said anode catalyst layer containing an anode catalyst; said cathode includes a cathode catalyst layer and a cathode diffusion layer, said cathode catalyst layer containing a cathode catalyst; said anode-side separator has a fuel flow channel for supplying methanol to said anode; said cathode-side separator has an oxidant flow channel for supplying oxidant to said cathode; and a portion of said cathode catalyst layer facing the upstream of said fuel flow channel has an effective reaction area per unit area larger than that of a portion of said cathode catalyst layer facing the downstream of said fuel flow channel over the whole cathode catalyst layer.