Design And Research On The Three-dimensional Electrodes Of Microfluidic Membraneless Fuel Cell

The microfluidic membraneless fuel cell is a fuel cell without proton exchangemembrane, which typically consists of two electrodes mounted within a T-or Y-shapedmicrochannel. The liquid fuel and oxidant entering at separate inlets and flowing inparallel without turbulent or convective mixing. The microfluidic membraneless fuel cellhas a number of advantages(e.g, without regard to water managment, thermal problems,etc), and it is increasingly becoming the power direction of the portable electronic device.In this work, using MEMS processing and microwave plasma technology to prepare theultrafine three-dimensional electrodes on the glass substrate. A collection of microfluidicfuel cells with ultrafine three-dimensional electrodes was assembled using in-housedeveloped microfabrication techniques. A comprehensive numerical model of themicrofluidic fuel cell is developed using COMSOL Multiphysics3.4. Then through flowvisualization experiments and electrochemical workstation to study the fuel cellperformance.(1) Through the methods of sputtering, lithograph, dry and wet etching, PDMStransfer stamp and the microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition, the preparation ofthe fuel cell and catalysts were achieved. The results showed that the quality of thoseelectrodes were good, and the method was easy to implement.(2) The COMSOL Multiphysics3.4simulation analysis shows that thethree-dimensional electrodes increasing the active area, while the ultra-microelectrodeshave efficient diffusion/convection mass transfer characteristics and the existence ofultra-microelectrodes produced a week disturbance phenomenon.(3) The visalization systems and the electrochemical experiment results showed thatincreasing the flow rate can effectively improve the fuel cell performance, and as a resultof the existence of the week disturbance the depletion area at the vicinity of the columnarthree-dimensional electrodes replenish faster than before. The large electrodes active area and the effective supplement of reactive material lead to the performance improvement.