An air breathing direct methanol fuel cell (AB-DMFC) with a unique architecture was designed and fabricated to hold cell components together firmly, avoid fuel leakage and limit cell resistance. Pt and PtRu catalysts prepared by pulse electrodeposition on Ti mesh-based electrodes were employed and compared to traditional carbon-based electrodes. Results showed that Ti mesh can be a suitable catalyst support without the need for a gas diffusion layer (GDL) at the anode, while the absence of a GDL at the cathode drastically reduces cell performance, which can be attributed to the diffusion limitation of oxygen to the cathode. Among the various Ti mesh-based cell configurations explored, the optimum configuration was found with PtRu on an 80 mesh (47% open ratio) Ti anode and a Pt/C coated GDL with 40 mesh (71% open ratio) Ti as a cathode. The single cell AB-DMFC architecture was extended to 2-cell and 6-cell mini-stacks. The 6-cell stack, offering an OCV of 2.9 V and a maximum power of 60 mW using 2 M methanol and ambient air, was used to run a small portable device. © 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC