Enhanced Performance of Membraneless Sodium Percarbonate Fuel Cells

Abstract

This paper presents the continuous flow operation of membraneless sodium percarbonate fuel cell (MLSPCFC) using acid/alkaline bipolar electrolyte. In the acid/alkaline bipolar electrolyte, percarbonate works both as an oxidant as well as reductant. Sodium percarbonate affords hydrogen peroxide in aqueous medium. The cell converts the energy released by H2O2 decomposition with H+ and OH− ions into electricity and produces water and oxygen. At room temperature, the laminar flow based microfluidic membraneless fuel cell can reach a maximum power density of 28 mW/cm2 with the molar ratio of [Percarbonate]/[NaOH] = 1 as fuel and [Percarbonate]/[H2SO4] = 2 as oxidant. The paper reports for the first time the use of sodium percarbonate as the oxidant and reductant. The developed fuel cell emits no CO2 and features no proton exchange membrane, inexpensive catalysts, and simple planar structure, which enables high design flexibility and easy integration of the microscale fuel cell into actual microfluidic systems and portable power applications.

Development of Membraneless Sodium Perborate Fuel Cell for Media Flexible Power Generation

“…In contrast, in acid-alkaline media configuration 2, the MLSPBFC using a fuel stream of an alkaline anode and an acidic cathode allows energy to be obtained both from the formic acid oxidation/peroxide reduction reactions and from the acid/alkali electrochemical neutralization reactions, as evident from the overall cell reaction equation (13).…”

“…The sodium perborate fuel cell (MLSPBFC) is unique from previous fuel cells using H 2 O 2 ; as mentioned in our earlier study sodium perborate can be used not only as an oxidant but also as a reductant [12,13].…”

Analysis of Membranless Formic Acid Fuel Cell using E-Shaped Microfluidic Channel

“…Eqn. 7 represents the net cell reaction [10]. The all-alkaline configuration gives a maximum theoretical OCP of 2.156 V. Anode:…”

Electrochemical Oxidation of Hydrazine in Membraneless Fuel Cells

“…[B(OH) 3 As mentioned in our earlier study, the sodium perborate fuel cell is unique from other fuel cells using H 2 O 2 , as it can be used not only as an oxidant but also as a reductant [8,9]. On the performance side, the membraneless sodium perborate fuel cell generates electric power comparable to a typical air breathing direct methanol fuel cell when operating in a microchemical channel at room temperature.…”