Direct Formic Acid Microfluidic Fuel Cell with Pd Nanocubes Supported on Flow-Through Microporous Electrodes

A formic acid and dissolved oxygen microfluidic fuel cell demonstrated superior performance to air-breathing cells by a unique, hierarchical combination of optimized electrocatalyst particle geometry based on Pd nanocubes enclosed in {100} crystallographic planes and flow-through microporous electrodes with high surface area. The high performance is attributed to the favorable size and shape of the catalyst, the high surface-to-volume ratio, and the high localized mass transport rates inside the flow-through microporous electrodes. These results open up the opportunity to utilize oxygen as oxidant in miniaturized electrochemical cells without the constraints imposed by integration of air-breathing cathodes exposed to surrounding air. (C) The Author(s) 2015. Published by ECS.