具有可渗透阳极的自呼吸微流体燃料电池性能特性

Performance Characteristics of an Air-Breathing Microfluidic Fuel Cell With a Flow-Through Anode

微流体燃料电池去除了质子交换膜,避免了膜退化、水管理等问题,是微型燃料电池领域新的研究热点。本文构建了具有可渗透阳极和空气自呼吸阴极的微流体燃料电池,采用甲酸溶液作为燃料对其性能特性进行了实验研究。结果表明:具有可渗透阳极的自呼吸微流体燃料电池性能随燃料浓度或流量的增加先升高后下降,随电解液浓度的增加而升高;阳极侧反应产生的CO_2气泡对自呼吸微流体燃料电池的性能和燃料利用率的影响较大,适当提高燃料流量有利于气泡的排除。

Microfluidic fuel cells,which eliminate the proton exchange membrane and the related problems such as membrane degradation and water management,are considered as new research focus of micro fuel cells.In the present study,an air-breathing microfluidic fuel cell with a flow-through anode was proposed and fabricated.The cell performances under different operation conditions were investigated experimentally with the formic acid solution as the fuel.The results showed that when the fuel concentration increased,the cell performance increased at first and then decreased.The variation of cell performance with the fuel flow rate exhibited the similar trend.Moreover,with an increase in the electrolyte concentration,the performance of the air-breathing microfluidic fuel cell increased.It was found that the carbon dioxide bubbles,which generated at the anode due to the electrochemical reaction,had a significant influence on the cell performance and fuel utilization and could be removed efficiently with a proper increase in the fuel flow rate.