Abstract
Microfluidic fuel cells (MFCs) with flow-through porous electrodes produce gas bubbles under acidic condition, which undoubtedly cover the catalyst surface, hinder the fuel transport and increase the ionic transfer resistance between electrodes. Herein, an effective approach is proposed to optimize the gas bubble distribution and reduce their influence on cell performance. Different from the flow configuration in the conventional flow-through MFCs, the reactant solutions flow from the microchannel between the anode and the cathode to the external channel through porous electrodes. After adjusting the flow configuration, the nucleation and distribution of gas bubbles are changed from the microchannel between anode and cathode to the external one, leading to a decreased ionic transfer resistance between the anode and the cathode. As a result, compared with the MFC with the conventional flow configuration, the maximum power density of the MFC with the new configuration (MFC-N) is increased by 52.9%, and a higher fuel utilization rate is achieved. Moreover, the MFC-N reaches a more stable voltage even at a high current density of 80 mA cm−2. The proposed flow configuration is a good and feasible method for gas management and performance enhancement in the flow-through MFCs.
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