In this paper, the effects of operating temperature on mass transport and micro direct methanol fuel cell (mu DMFC) performance are presented. Furthermore, a whole two-dimensional model coupled with mass/momentum transports and temperature characteristic is established. Simulation results show that the temperature has significant effects on methanol concentration/CO2 distributions, crossover current density, and the polarization curve. The metal-based mu DMFC with the effective area of 0.64 cm(-2) is fabricated using micro-stamping technology, and the detailed experimental validation is conducted. The results reveal that when the cell is supplied with a relatively, low aqueous methanol flow rate, the peak power density exhibits a trend of initially going up, reaching the peak value of 85.3 mW cm(-2) at 60 degrees C, and then dropping off. At the higher flow rate, however, a proportional relationship between the power density and temperature is obtained. The experimental results are in good agreement with the simulation. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.