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Development and characteristics of a membraneless microfluidic fuel cell array.
- Source :
-
Electrochimica Acta . Jul2014, Vol. 135, p467-477. 11p. - Publication Year :
- 2014
-
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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00134686
- Volume :
- 135
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Electrochimica Acta
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 96896294
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2014.04.165