TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Anode: The anode comprises a catalyst for oxidizing the liquid fuel. The catalyst comprises iridium, osmium, palladium, platinum, rhenium, rhodium, ruthenium or tin. The catalyst is supported on a porous backing layer. The backing layer is hydrophilic and is readily wetted by the liquid fuel. The backing layer comprises a hydrophilic coating and a cellulosic material.Preferred Cell Assembly: The fuel cell assembly further comprises a duct connecting the aerosol generator to the anode, and a particle size conditioner connected to the duct. The particle size conditioner is situated between the aerosol generator and the anode, and separates the liquid fuel droplets from the suspending gas based on the differences in particle size or charge. The particle size conditioner is selected from a packed bed, a diffuser or an electrostatic separator. The fuel cell assembly further comprises a flow field element having an inner surface comprising several intersecting flow channels. The aerosol generator is selected from orifices, single fluid nozzles, two fluid nozzles, rotary atomizers and ultrasonic atomizers. The aerosol generator comprises several atomizers (25) which uniformly distributes the liquid fuel over the anode as liquid fuel droplets suspended in the suspending gas. Each of the atomizers is positioned on the inner surface of the flow field element. The fuel cell assembly further comprises an anode vent (23) and a droplet recovery unit (19) connected to the anode vent. The droplet recovery unit separates the liquid fuel droplets from the suspending gas. The droplet recovery unit is a filter, membrane, packed bed or electrostatic precipitator. The anode comprises pores having an average pore diameter. The average diameter of the liquid fuel droplets is less than 0.1 times the average pore diameter of the pores of the anode. The fuel cell comprises a housing (12) and the polymer electrolyte membrane is located within the housing between the anode and the cathode. The electrolyte separates the housing into an anode chamber (22) and a cathode chamber (28). The cathode is formed on the side surface of the membrane facing the cathode chamber and the anode is formed on the opposing side surface of the membrane facing the anode chamber. The aerosol generator in the housing faces the anode. The aerosol is formed discontinuously by pulse atomization of the liquid fuel.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - POLYMERS - Preferred Electrolyte: The polymer electrolyte membrane comprises a solid polymer hydrogen ion conductor membrane. The membrane comprises a copolymer of tetrafluoroethylene and perfluorovinylether sulfonic acid, or it is a polyhydrocarbon sulfonic acid polymer. The membrane comprises a composite of two or more hydrogen ion conductor membranes.Preferred Catalyst Support: The backing layer that supports the catalyst contains a copolymer of tetrafluoroethylene and perfluorovinylether sulfonic acid.Preferred Element: The inner surface of the flow field element is hydrophobic and comprises a polymer of tetrafluoroethylene.