Microfluidic hydrogen fuel cell with a liquid electrolyte.

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/cm2. This flowing electrolyte design avoids water management issues, including cathode flooding and anode dry out.

Air-breathing laminar flow-based microfluidic fuel cell.

This communication reports the design and characterization of an air-breathing laminar flow-based microfluidic fuel cell (LFFC). The performance of previous LFFC designs was cathode-limited due to the poor solubility and slow transport of oxygen in aqueous media. Introduction of an air-breathing gas diffusion electrode as the cathode addresses these mass transfer issues.