Development of Reversible Membraneless Microfluidic Fuel Cell

Description

A Fuel cell can supply clean electricity by electrochemical reaction. Presently, fuel cells are not widely used mainly because the cost is still high. The most expensive component of a fuel cell is the electrolyte membrane that separates the anode and cathode and allows transport of charged ions only.The microfluidic fuel cell (MFC) design is a promising approach to cut down the cost significantly. The membraneless MFC architecture utilizes the laminar-flow interface to naturally separate the fuel and oxidant streams. Charged ions are transported through the interface by diffusion.The cost effectiveness of MFC could be further increased by adopting a reversible fuel cell design to make a single fuel cell perform dual functions: (1) fuel cell - supply electricity (discharging mode) and (2) electrolyzer - produce fuel (charging mode). In this project, theoretical modeling studies will be conducted to develop reversible microfluidic fuel cell (RMFC).