Numerical study on the performance of the H-shaped air-breathing microfluidic fuel cell stack

Microfluidic fuel cells (MFCs) are a kind of promising power source for micro-electronic equipment, such as portable electronic devices, biomedicine test and diagnose devices. One of the major constraints on the commercialization of MFC is the insufficient output power and low power density. To meet the power requirements of practical applications, a novel H-shaped air-breathing dual MFC which can be further assembled into cell stack is proposed. Mathematical model has been established to evaluate the performances of the designed H-shaped dual MFC as well as its connected MFC stack. A good agreement between our simulation result and the reported experimental and simulation results is obtained. Comparing with traditional single cell, this H-shaped dual cell presents a higher output voltage and power density. The design of appropriate inlet flow rate, fuel concentration and electrolyte pH value are beneficial to the improve MFC performance. Output voltage and power density of stacks connected in series are increased with larger cell number, while their fuel efficiencies decrease significantly. However, stacks connected in parallel produce high power density without compromising fuel efficiency. These results provide insight for future design and manufacture of MFC stacks. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The research on H-shaped air-breathing dual MFC and their stacks design theory, evaluated their performance through mathematical models, and the results are in good agreement with experimental data. The H-shaped dual cell shows higher output voltage and power density compared to traditional single cell.