Characterization of limiting factors in laminar flow-based membraneless microfuel cells

This paper characterizes the performance-limiting factors of a membraneless microfuel cell in which two aqueous streams flow laminarly in parallel in the absence of a physical membrane without turbulent mixing. The all-liquid configuration allows for easy external addition of a reference electrode, enabling the determination of the type of performance limiting factors such as kinetics and mass transfer limitations, including the source (anode or cathode), and the cell resistance. In addition, options to address the present dominating mass transfer limitations at the cathode are discussed. (c) 2005 The Electrochemical Society.