1. Microfluidic hydrogen fuel cell with a liquid electrolyte.
- Author
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Jayashree RS, Mitchell M, Natarajan D, Markoski LJ, and Kenis PJ
- 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/cm2. 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.
- Published
- 2007
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