Enhanced Performance of Membraneless Sodium Percarbonate Fuel Cells

This paper presents the continuous flow operation of membraneless sodium percarbonate fuel cell (MLSPCFC) using acid/alkaline bipolar electrolyte. In the acid/alkaline bipolar electrolyte, percarbonate works both as an oxidant as well as reductant. Sodium percarbonate affords hydrogen peroxide in aqueous medium. The cell converts the energy released by H2O2 decomposition with H+ and OH− ions into electricity and produces water and oxygen. At room temperature, the laminar flow based microfluidic membraneless fuel cell can reach a maximum power density of 28 mW/cm2 with the molar ratio of [Percarbonate]/[NaOH] = 1 as fuel and [Percarbonate]/[H2SO4] = 2 as oxidant. The paper reports for the first time the use of sodium percarbonate as the oxidant and reductant. The developed fuel cell emits no CO2 and features no proton exchange membrane, inexpensive catalysts, and simple planar structure, which enables high design flexibility and easy integration of the microscale fuel cell into actual microfluidic systems and portable power applications.