A parametric variation of microfluidic vanadium fuel cells is studied. The present membraneless and catalyst-free fuel cell consists of a microfluidic channel network with two porous carbon paper electrodes. An aqueous vanadium redox pair as reactants is supplied to the porous electrodes in a flow-through configuration. The dimensions of porous carbon electrodes and microchannels are varied from the baseline design to investigate their impacts on the fuel cell performance. In addition, a dependency on the number of electrical contacts is examined. Numerical simulations are performed in parallel with experimental activities to understand the coupled effects of mass transport, electrochemistry, electron conduction, and fluid velocity field. The simulation results are compared with the measured data from each cell design for verification. An optimal cell design is discussed based on the current study and future research opportunities were proposed.

Volume Subject Area:
Modeling, Design, and Optimization for Low Temperature Fuel Cells
Topics:
Fuel cells, Microfluidics, Design, Electrodes, Carbon, Catalysts, Computer simulation, Dimensions, Electrochemistry, Electrons, Flow (Dynamics), Fluids, Heat conduction, Microchannels, Simulation results
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Copyright © 2011
 by ASME
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