Build Your Own Band-aid Fuel Cell
ptorrone writes "Here's how to make a fuel cell from a band-aid...This has got to be the simplest way to build a fuel cell from scratch. The design is ridiculously simple, whilst being effective - it will allow you to explore the concepts of fuel cells in a ludicrously simple way."
The sticking plaster does perform a couple of important roles in this design. It is "breathable," so it lets oxygen in so that it can react with the methanol. The gauze pad is absorbant and will hold a few drops of methanol solution, so you don't need a continuous feed of methanol to the anode.
Plus, holding together the other componoents is not exactly unimportant! For the cost of obtaining them, sticking plasters are tough and their adhesive is durable.
Virtue finds and chooses the mean.
Aristotle, Ethica Nichomachea