Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH
Volume 44, Issue 3, Pages 2243-2251Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/er.5085
Keywords
alkaline; cotton threads; laminar flow; microfluidic fuel cells; pump free
Categories
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [51776026, 51620105011]
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [2018CDXYDL0001]
- Venture and Innovation Support Program for Chongqing Overseas Returnees [cx2018019]
- Program for Back-up Talent Development of Chongqing University [cqu2017hbrc1B06]
- International Cooperation and Exchange of the National Natural Science Foundation of China [51620105011]
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In typical membraneless microfluidic fuel cells, the anolyte and catholyte are driven by syringe pumps, increasing the overall size of the system and limiting its miniaturization. In this study, a membraneless microfluidic fuel cell with continuous multistream flow through cotton threads was proposed. Cotton threads are simply laid in parallel to form flow channels. Multistream flow through cotton threads is formed without any external pumps. Cell performances under various operation conditions are evaluated. The results show that the middle stream could separate other two streams effectively to prevent the diffusive mixing of anolyte and catholyte. A peak power density of 19.9 mW cm(-2) and a limiting current density of 111.2 mA cm(-2) are delivered. Moreover, the performance improves with the sodium formate concentration rising up to 2M, while it declines at 4M fuel concentration due to the weakened convection transport and product removal caused by the low flow rate. With increasing the flow rate, the performance is enhanced because of the improved fuel transport at the anode. The good performance as well as the constant-voltage discharging curve indicates that the microfluidic fuel cell with cotton threads as flow channels provides a new direction for miniature power sources.
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