Abstract
In this paper, we proposed a new design of a high performance methanol micro-reformer for hydrogen production which integrated low temperature catalysts supported by silicon nano-wires inside micro-channels with multi-inlet and in-parallel channel. Without complicated fabrication process, the reforming performance of micro-reformer with Si nano-wire fully filled channel-passageways in height and length compared to that without nano-wires supported can enhanced by 38 folds more hydrogen yield；and the hydrogen yield at 180 oC and 250 oC are 8.8×10-7 mole/min and 1.5×10-6 mole/min, respectively. The enhancement of this new design micro-reformer was attributed to (1) the large surface area that the Si nano-wires can provided，(2) hard membrane photoresist process which assisted in better catalytic coating morphology，(3) the special design of Si nano-wires fully filled channel-passageways in height and length was expected to be able to force reactive-gases contact with catalysts，(4) the detailed discussions of how the different ingredients in catalysts solution influence the catalytic coating morphology。