Development and characteristics of a membraneless microfluidic fuel cell array
File(s)EA-S-14-01390_r1.pdf (2.03 MB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Membraneless microfluidic fuel cells (M²FCs) are promising portable power sources, but they suffer from limited scalability. This paper presents a scaling-out strategy for general M²FC applications with their characteristics studied by both experiments and mathematical modeling. The present strategy addresses the issues of flow distribution non-uniformity and shunt current losses by integrating a well-designed fluid circuit. With the present strategy, parallel and series connections of four cells in an array results in a scaling-out efficiency of 93% and 82%, respectively. The effects of different parameters on the array performance as well as further device scalability are also investigated in this paper. Preferable conditions for the array operation include a high branch ionic resistance, small unit cell difference and high unit-cell performance, which can be achieved by appropriately designing the branch geometry, employing high-precision fabrication/assembly techniques and improving the single-cell materials/chemistries. It is expected that the present array can be incremented to 50 cells or above in series with over 75% efficiency as long as there is sufficiently high branch resistance or cell performance.
Date Issued
2014-07-20
Date Acceptance
2014-04-29
Citation
Electrochimica Acta, 2014, 135 (1), pp.467-477
ISSN
0013-4686
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
467
End Page
477
Journal / Book Title
Electrochimica Acta
Volume
135
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Identifier
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013468614009451
Subjects
02 Physical Sciences
03 Chemical Sciences
09 Engineering
Energy
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2014-05-09