Microfluidic hydrogen fuel cell with a liquid electrolyte

Ranga S. Jayashree, Michael Mitchell, Dilip Natarajan, Larry J. Markoski, Paul J.A. Kenis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We report the design and characterization of a microfluidic hydrogen fuel cell with a flowing sulfuric acid solution instead of a Nafion membrane as the electrolyte. We studied the effect of cell resistance, hydrogen and oxygen flow rates, and electrolyte flow rate on fuel cell performance to obtain a maximum power density of 191 mW/cm 2. This flowing electrolyte design avoids water management issues, including cathode flooding and anode dry out. Placing a reference electrode in the outlet stream allows for independent analysis of the polarization losses on the anode and the cathode, thereby creating an elegant catalyst characterization and optimization tool.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)6871-6874
Number of pages4
JournalLangmuir
Volume23
Issue number13
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 19 2007

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Materials Science(all)
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Surfaces and Interfaces
  • Spectroscopy
  • Electrochemistry

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