This is an article that I found from the great guys at Make. It is a very cool project that just about anyone can do and not much equipment is needed. How it basically works is using an MEA (Membrane Electrode Assembly) which turns Methanol into Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen without the need for any external action. They say that you can make your own, but it is very hard, and much easier to buy one from a site like fuelcellstore.com. A stainless steel flyscreen is also required, to make the connection points at the anode (postive) and the cathode (negative) electrode. The band aid is used to hold it all together and the cotton pad acts as a reservoir for the methanol. You then need to connect the electrodes to a multimeter and ta-da! They do say not to “expect big shakes first time round! DMFC fuel cells take time to “break in”.”
You won’t be able to power much with such a small voltage (and the small current made) but if you link a few in series you may be able to get a LED running. They also mention that they were able to squeeze more voltage out if you lighly press on the methanol reservoir at the sides because “the wire gauze makes better contact with the MEA“.
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