Fuel cell structure with a porous metal plate for cooling

A fuel cell structure (10) with a porous metal plate includes a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) (20), a first porous metal plate (30), a metal plate (40), and a pair of end plates (50). The first porous metal plate (30) and the metal plate (40) are disposed on opposite outer surfaces (241, 251) of two gas diffusion layers (GDLs) (24, 25) of the MEA (20), respectively, and have fuel channels (32, 42) contacting with the GDLs (24, 25). The end plates (50) are arranged on outer surfaces (33, 43) of the first porous metal plate (30) and of the metal plate (40), respectively, to close cooling-liquid flow channels (31, 41) of the first porous metal plate (30) and of the metal plate (40). A pressure difference between fuel and cooling liquid within the fuel cell structure (10) pushes the cooling liquid flowing through the cooling-liquid flow channels (31) of the first porous metal plate (30) to seep into the fuel channels (32) spontaneously and hence humidify the fuel automatically, thereby maintaining the reaction efficiency of the fuel cell structure (10).