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A Review on Membraneless Laminar Flow-Based Fuel Cells

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A Review on Membraneless Laminar Flow-Based Fuel Cells international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (2011) 1e20 Available at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/he Review A review on membraneless laminar flow-based fuel cells Seyed Ali Mousavi Shaegh, Nam-Trung Nguyen*, Siew Hwa Chan School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore article info abstract Article history: The review article provides a methodical approach for understanding membraneless Received 19 October 2010 laminar flow-based fuel cells (LFFCs), also known as microfluidic fuel cells. Membraneless Received in revised form LFFCs benefit from the lamination of multiple streams in a microchannel. The lack of 9 January 2011 convective mixing leads to a well-defined liquideliquid interface. Usually, anode and Accepted 12 January 2011 cathode are positioned at both sides of the interface. The liquideliquid interface is Available online xxx considered as a virtual membrane and ions can travel across the channel to reach the other side and complete the ionic conduction. The advantage of membraneless LFFC is the lack Keywords: of a physical membrane and the related issues of membrane conditioning can be elimi- Microfluidic nated or becomes less important. Based on the electrode architectures, membraneless Fuel cell LFFCs in the literature can be categorized into three main types: flow-over design with Laminar flow planar electrodes, flow-through design with three-dimensional porous electrodes, and Membraneless membraneless LFFCs with air-breathing cathode. Since this paper focuses on reviewing the Review design considerations of membraneless LFFCs, a concept map is provided for under- standing the cross-related problems. The impacts of flow and electrode architecture on cell performance and fuel utilization are discussed. In addition, the main challenges and key issues for further development of membraneless LFFCs are discussed. Copyright ª 2011, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Among the above energy conversion methods, electro- chemical power generators are more competitive for various Advancement in miniaturization technology led to the emer- low-power applications such as cell phones, laptops and gence of a new class of power generating devices for low-power PDAs. They do not have moving parts and can be fabricated by applications [1]. Small-scale energy conversion schemes are relatively simple fabrication processes as compared to heat referred to micro power generation for portable and stationary engines [4]. In contrast to heat engines, electrochemical-based micro devices [2]. Generally, micro power generation can be power sources do not normally operate at elevated tempera- categorized as (i) chemical-based conversion including micro ture which is a key design feature for portable devices. The internal combustion engines and micro turbines [2]; (ii) elec- major available power sources for portable electronics and trochemical-based conversion such as batteries and fuel cells off-the grid applications are batteries [3]. But, demands for [3]; and (iii) solid-state direct energy conversion like thermo- longer operational time without frequent recharging has electric and photovoltaic microstructures [2]. pushed numerous investigations to enhance the capacity of * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ65 6790 4457; fax: þ65 6791 1859. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (S.A. Mousavi Shaegh), [email protected] (N.-T. Nguyen), [email protected] (S.H. Chan). 0360-3199/$ e see front matter Copyright ª 2011, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2011.01.063 Please cite this article in press as: Mousavi Shaegh SA, et al., A review on membraneless laminar flow-based fuel cells, Inter- national Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2011), doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2011.01.063 2 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (2011) 1e20 battery, e.g. its energy density, or to deploy alternative power a matter of downsizing the cell dimensions. To address these sources such as fuel cells [3]. membrane-related issues, new materials [10] and novel Microfabrication techniques are usually employed to conceptual designs for micro-scale fuel cells have been develop miniature fuel cells [5,6]. Miniature fuel cells which proposed [11]. are also well known as micro fuel cells mainly use the proton In parallel to the MEMS-based approaches for miniatur- exchange membrane. Micro fuel cells are possible power izing of conventional power sources, micro/nanofluidics can sources for applications ranging from portable electronics to provide new approaches for energy conversion systems [12]. MEMS devices [5]. New functionalities can be explored and created by taking Since fuel cells utilize fuels with high energy density [7], advantage of the specific phenomena which emerge by the operation time span can be longer and only depends on downsizing the fluidic systems. the size of the fuel storage. In contrast, the operation time of The absence of instabilities due to the convective mass batteries is determined by the size of the whole battery as the transport in laminar flows at low Reynolds numbers allows sole energy storage. In addition, decoupling of fuel cell as streams containing different substances with different energy convertor and fuel cartridge may lead to more flexi- concentrations to flow side by side through a microchannel. bility in the design of the fuel cell system. Depending on the Pe´clet number, an indicator for the relative Technology-based prediction reveals that the technical importance of convection to diffusion, streams can travel development of batteries cannot keep pace with ever- down the channel separately. Diffusive mixing of two streams increasing power demands of portable electronics available in across the liquideliquid interface results in a concentration the markets [3] which are equipped with rising embedded gradient. By exploiting the property of such controlled capabilities related to broad-band Internet. microfluidic interface, different applications and investiga- To benefit from the advantages of micro fuel cells to be tions like extraction and separation of molecules [13e15], a long lasting power source, key challenges and major issues microfabrication and patterning at the interface of the must be addressed. Micro fuel cells exploit proton exchange streams in a microchannel [16], and micro optofluidic lenses membrane running on methanol or hydrogen with close or have been achieved [17]. open (air-breathing) cathode [8,9]. The main issues of current Ferrigno et al. [11] proposed the concept of membraneless designs are associated with the membrane. Keeping high fuel cell based on the lamination of two streams in a micro- proton conductivity of the membrane, for example Nafion, channel. As shown in Fig. 1, the two streams of oxidant and for different working operations is challenging. Water fuel are introduced into a microchannel with integrated management adds complexity to the fuel cell system. In electrodes as the active area for electrochemical reactions. addition, fuel crossover through membrane is another Both anolyte and catholyte have supporting liquid electrolyte detrimental issue which degrades the cell performance. Also, to facilitate the ion conduction across the channel. The swelling and shrinkage of the membrane during water oxidized fuel or reduced oxidant ions travel across the uptake and dehydration deforms the membrane resulting in channel by migration, while the electrons reach the cathode packaging failure. Therefore, micro fuel cell is not just side through an external circuit, Fig. 1(a). Fig. 1 e Flow-over designs; (a) schematic sketch of membraneless LFFC with side-by-side streaming in a Y-shape channel; (b) AeA cross section of the channel, schematic sketch of channel with top-bottom electrodes configuration; (c) cross section of channel showing depletion boundary layers over anode and cathode and interdiffusion zone at the liquideliquid interface with vertical electrodes on side walls; (d) cross section of chanel with both electrodes at bottom wall; (e) cross section of channel with both electrodes on bottom wall in a grooved channel; (f) cross section of channel with graphite rods as electrodes. Please cite this article in press as: Mousavi Shaegh SA, et al., A review on membraneless laminar flow-based fuel cells, Inter- national Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2011), doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2011.01.063 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (2011) 1e20 3 Since fuel and oxidant streams flow down the channel in microchannels are defined as channels with characteristic a parallel manner, the necessity for the presence of dimension less than 1 mm and greater than 1 mm [22], and the a membrane as a separator of two streams is eliminated [11]. fluid manipulation inside the microchannels is known as Inter-diffusive zone between two streams is restricted to an microfluidics. interfacial width at the center of the channel. To avoid the With a scale factor of R, the ratio of surface to volume is R2 ¼ À1 effects of fuel and oxidant crossover, the electrode-to-elec- (R3 R ) which decreases with miniaturization. Microfluidic trode spacing should be optimized with design considerations systems can harness the scale-dependence of interface such that Ohmic losses across the channel and pumping properties, to exploit a broad series of applications [23].As energy through the channel are minimum. fluidic
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