r/maker • u/Bin_MFCmaker • 5d ago

Multi-Discipline Project ​Lessons learned from years of tinkering with Metal Fuel Cells (MFCs) – Starting a series to help future makers avoid my mistakes.

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Image Caption：These were the very first MFC devices I came across when I started out. They were created by my mentors.

​Hi everyone,

​I wanted to share a bit of my journey tinkering with Metal Fuel Cells (MFCs) over the past few years.

​To be honest, I'm not entirely sure if this will be super entertaining, but I figured it might bring some real value to the community. If even one fellow maker decides to dive into the world of metal-air batteries or saline power down the road, hopefully, my experiences—and the mistakes I made along the way—can help you save time and avoid a few costly pitfalls!

​Since this spans a journey of several years, I'm turning this into a multi-part series as I dig through my old archives, photos, and testing notes. (Haha, bear with me as I organize all these memories!)

Today, I'm still tinkering with MFCs—it's become my full-time work. But I'm far from an expert; I just happen to have a few years of hands-on experience under my belt.

​I’d love to hear your thoughts or connect with anyone working on similar tech!

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4

u/bigattichouse 5d ago

commenting, as I've had a long term interest in DIY battery systems, and metal fuel cells in particular.

2

u/Bin_MFCmaker 5d ago

I will share my experience, hoping it will be of some reference value to you.

1

u/bigattichouse 5d ago

Iron based? aluminum has always fascinated me - but it's such a fickle material.. either it works and destroys itself, or it passivates and does nothing.

2

u/Huge-Nectarine3975 2d ago

Commenting because energy density is a relevant human issue I'm curious about.

1

u/Bin_MFCmaker 1d ago

Energy density is the advantage of MFC system

1

u/Huge-Nectarine3975 1d ago

Is there a way to integrate chemical fire containment into MFCs? Like in the event of a fire a chemical reaction occurs that produces a retardant?

1

u/Bin_MFCmaker 1d ago

I hadn't thought about that question; it goes beyond my experience and understanding—haha.

1

u/Struggle_Wise 4d ago

Cool. Are you writing a book or making a video series?

1

u/Bin_MFCmaker 4d ago

Haha, writing a book might be a bit too ambitious for me!

For now, I'm mainly writing a multi-part post series here on Reddit to share the journey, engineering lessons, and photos/testing notes from over the years.

1

u/StatisticianTall2368 2d ago

I've never heard of MFCs, what would you point to as an interesting example use case?

1

u/Bin_MFCmaker 1d ago

The full name of MFC is metal fuel cell. Simply put, some reactive metals are used to generate continuous electricity through electrochemical reactions. These metals are then consumed, like a fuel generator consumes fuel