A passive microfluidic hydrogen-air fuel cell with exceptional stability and high performance

Lab on a Chip
Svetlana M Mitrovski, Ralph G Nuzzo

Abstract

We describe an advanced microfluidic hydrogen-air fuel cell (FC) that exhibits exceptional durability and high performance, most notably yielding stable output power (>100 days) without the use of an anode-cathode separator membrane. This FC embraces an entirely passive device architecture and, unlike conventional microfluidic designs that exploit laminar hydrodynamics, no external pumps are used to sustain or localize the reagent flow fields. The devices incorporate high surface area/porous metal and metal alloy electrodes that are embedded and fully immersed in liquid electrolyte confined in the channels of a poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)-based microfluidic network. The polymeric network also serves as a self-supporting membrane through which oxygen and hydrogen are supplied to the cathode and alloy anode, respectively, by permeation. The operational stability of the device and its performance is strongly dependent on the nature of the electrolyte used (5 M H2SO4 or 2.5 M NaOH) and composition of the anode material. The latter choice is optimized to decrease the sensitivity of the system to oxygen cross-over while still maintaining high activity towards the hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR). Three types of high surface area a...Continue Reading

References

Oct 31, 2002·Journal of the American Chemical Society·Rosaria FerrignoGeorge M Whitesides
Oct 31, 2002·Journal of the American Chemical Society·Nicolas ManoAdam Heller
Aug 11, 2004·Langmuir : the ACS Journal of Surfaces and Colloids·Svetlana M MitrovskiRalph G Nuzzo
Mar 16, 1998·Angewandte Chemie·Younan Xia, George M Whitesides

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Citations

Aug 25, 2006·Lab on a Chip·J de JongM Wessling
May 24, 2008·Lab on a Chip·Dennis Desheng Meng, Chang-Jin C J Kim
Mar 23, 2011·Electrophoresis·Evan M EricksonRalph G Nuzzo
Dec 30, 2014·Electrophoresis·Thomas S CopenhaverJohn L Haan
Apr 14, 2012·Biophysical Chemistry·Alexander Scheeline, Rachel L Behrens
Dec 23, 2011·Journal of the American Chemical Society·Evan M EricksonRalph G Nuzzo
Sep 12, 2020·Nature Communications·Zhichao MaPeer Fischer
Mar 5, 2008·Journal of the American Chemical Society·Erik KjeangDavid Sinton
May 22, 2007·Langmuir : the ACS Journal of Surfaces and Colloids·Ranga S JayashreePaul J A Kenis

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