Narrow middle channel design in counter-flow microfluidic fuel cell with flow-through electrodes

Li Li, Qiang Xu, Yajun Xie, Xiaochun Wang, Kai Zhu, Keqing Zheng, Xinyu Li, Haocheng Huang, Yugang Huang and Shaoyi Bei

Energy, 2024, vol. 288, issue C

Abstract: Output performance of counter-flow microfluidic fuel cell is hampered by its significant internal ohmic resistance. In this work, narrow middle channel design is introduced to the counter-flow microfluidic fuel cell with flow-through electrodes to ease the internal ohmic resistance issue and realize increased fuel utilization and improved power density simultaneously. Systematically numerical investigations are performed to validate the feasibility and evaluate the prospect of the narrow middle channel design. Meanwhile, in-depth analyses are provided to explore the mechanisms behind the distinctive cell characteristics. Corresponding results demonstrate that the width of the middle channel in the counter-flow microfluidic fuel cell with flow-through electrodes can be safely reduced from the commonly used 1–2 mm–0.3 mm without reactant crossover and obvious increase in the energy consumption for the pumping of the reactant streams. Superiority of the narrow middle channel design is more significant in the high reactant concentration and high flow rate case where an increase of 30.29 % is observed in the peak power density when the middle channel width reduces from 1 mm to 0.3 mm under the reactant concentrations of 4 M and flow rate of 120 μLmin−1.

Keywords: Microfluidic fuel cell; Counter-flow; Narrow middle channel; Flow-through electrode (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544223031845
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:288:y:2024:i:c:s0360544223031845

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2023.129790

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().