Optimum geometrical design for improved fuel utilization in membraneless micro fuel cell

New Concepts in the Chemistry and Engineering of Low‐Temperature Fuel Cells

“…This precise control of transport properties enables a wide range of applications, including drug discovery, protein crystallization, biomedical analysis, microfabrication, and energy conversion [87][88][89]. The Kenis group [77,[90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97] and others [86,[98][99][100][101][102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110][111] have exploited these microfluidic phenomena to develop a class of membraneless fuel cells that are also referred to as laminar flow-based fuel cells (LFFCs). The laminar nature of flow eliminates the need for a physical barrier, such as an expensive polymeric membrane, while still allowing for ionic transport between the anode and the cathode.…”

“…Using such a focusing technique, both fuel utilization and power density may be increased as it enables the use of higher concentrations of fuel and oxidant. Altering structural parameters of the microchannel in which the reactants flow can further improve performance and fuel utilization [108][109][110]125,126]. For example, Ahmed et al developed a "tridentshaped" design that used electrolyte stream in the channel center to focus both the fuel and oxidant streams onto their respective electrodes [108].…”

“…Altering structural parameters of the microchannel in which the reactants flow can further improve performance and fuel utilization [108][109][110]125,126]. For example, Ahmed et al developed a "tridentshaped" design that used electrolyte stream in the channel center to focus both the fuel and oxidant streams onto their respective electrodes [108]. In another interesting example, Yoon et al investigated different active and passive methods of minimizing the depletion boundary layer, which limits cell performance: (1) using multiple outlets to remove the depleted regions, (2) using multiple inlets to replenish the depleted regions, and (3) using a herringbone structure to generate secondary transverse flow, enabling chaotic mixing within a single laminar stream, to replace the depleted layer with fluid of higher fuel concentration [126].…”

Vanadium microfluidic fuel cell with novel multi-layer flow-through porous electrodes: Model, simulations and experiments

“…Recent reviews summarized the work conducted in this field with respect to design considerations [28], critical limiting factors [29] and selection of electrode and catalyst materials [30] to boost the cell performance. Along with experimental results, computational modeling and theoretical simulations in this area also attracted a lot of attention [21,[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40]. As an integral part of the development, characterization and validation of MFC devices, mathematical modeling provides a fast, accurate and robust approach for MFC design.…”

Counter-flow formic acid microfluidic fuel cell with high fuel utilization exceeding 90%

“…Afterwards, various efforts in advancing cell design [12][13][14], like multiple inlets/outlets and flow-through electrode, and electrode materials [15] have been reported, leading to the continual improvement in fuel utilization. Numerical studies were carried out for optimal design of MFC to gain much higher fuel utilization [16,17]. To date, the highest fuel utilization achieved for formic acid MFC is reaching 87.6% [18].…”