Fabrication and Test of an Air-Breathing Microfluidic Fuel Cell

Jin-Cherng Shyu, Po-Yan Wang, Chien-Liang Lee, Sung-Chun Chang, Tsung-Sheng Sheu, Chun-Hsien Kuo, Kun-Lung Huang and Zi-Yi Yang
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Jin-Cherng Shyu: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, Kaohsiung 80778, Taiwan
Po-Yan Wang: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, Kaohsiung 80778, Taiwan
Chien-Liang Lee: Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, Kaohsiung 80778, Taiwan
Sung-Chun Chang: Material and Chemical Research Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu 31040, Taiwan
Tsung-Sheng Sheu: Department of Mechanical Engineering, R.O.C. Military Academy, Kaohsiung 83059, Taiwan
Chun-Hsien Kuo: Department of Mold and Die Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, Kaohsiung 80778, Taiwan
Kun-Lung Huang: Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, Kaohsiung 80778, Taiwan
Zi-Yi Yang: Department of Mold and Die Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, Kaohsiung 80778, Taiwan

Energies, 2015, vol. 8, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: An air-breathing direct formic acid microfluidic fuel cell, which had a self-made anode electrode of 10 mg/cm 2 Pd loading and 6 mg/cm 2 Nafion content, was fabricated and tested. The microfluidic fuel cell was achieved by bonding a PDMS microchannel that was fabricated by a soft-lithography process and a PMMA sheet that was machined by a CO 2 laser for obtaining 50 through holes of 0.5 mm in diameter. Formic acid of 0.3 M, 0.5 M, and 1.0 M, mixed with 0.5-M H 2 SO 4 , was supplied at a flow rate ranging from 0.1 to 0.7 mL/min as fuel. The maximum power density of the fuel cell fed with 0.5-M HCOOH was approximately 31, 32.16, and 31 mW/cm 2 at 0.5, 0.6, and 0.7 mL/min, respectively. The simultaneous recording of the flow in the microchannel and the current density of the fuel cell at 0.2 V, within a 100-s duration, showed that the period and amplitude of each unsteady current oscillation were associated with the bubble resident time and bubble dimension, respectively. The effect of bubble dimension included the longitudinal and transverse bubble dimension, and the distance between two in-line bubbles as well.

Keywords: air-breathing; fuel cell; formic acid; bubble resident time (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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