Numerical Study the Performance of Microfluidic Fuel Cell with Porous Electrodes

Abstract

Microfluidic fuel cell with flow-through porous electrodes is a new concept design which can significantly improve cell performance. In this paper, a three-dimensional numerical model which is based on mathematical formulations of laminar flow, species transport, and electrochemical reactions was developed to determine the effects of some important physical factors on cell performance. Moreover, this model also can be used to guide further optimization. The numerical simulation results obtained show that the cell performance is considered as functions of volumetric flow rate and porosity value. The peak power density increased almost linearly with the increase of flow rate when it less than 60µL min-1 .However, as the flow rate up to 60µL min-1, the cell performance becomes less sensitive to the increase of flow rate, and the corresponding maximum fuel utilization was achieved at the porosity value of 0.65.