Microfluidic fuel cell for off-the-grid applications

The present doctoral thesis studies air-breathing microfluidic fuel cells with separated fuel and electrolyte streams as well as a membraneless fuel cell with selective electrodes. In order to gain more insight into the physio-chemical reactions, numerical simulation of the in-house developed air-br...

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Main Author: Seyed Ali Mousavi Shaegh
Other Authors: Chan Siew Hwa
Format: Theses and Dissertations
Language:English
Published: 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/50777
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-507772023-03-11T17:57:44Z Microfluidic fuel cell for off-the-grid applications Seyed Ali Mousavi Shaegh Chan Siew Hwa Nguyen Nam-Trung School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering::Energy conservation DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering::Fluid mechanics DRNTU::Science::Chemistry::Physical chemistry::Electrochemistry The present doctoral thesis studies air-breathing microfluidic fuel cells with separated fuel and electrolyte streams as well as a membraneless fuel cell with selective electrodes. In order to gain more insight into the physio-chemical reactions, numerical simulation of the in-house developed air-breathing microfluidic fuel cell is formulated and solved using COMSOL Multiphysics. The results from the simulation show that fuel stream at the anode side and its interaction with the electrolyte stream has significant impact on the total fuel cell performance. As the first step for improving the hydrodynamic manipulation of the fuel stream, a flow-through porous anode is introduced. The effects of flow architecture on fuel utilization and the whole cell performance are investigated. Experimental results show that the flow-through porous anode improves the cell current in a long-term performance test as compared to the conventional design with flow-over planar anode. Because of the improved current generation, the rate of carbon dioxide generation in the cell increases. At high current densities, carbon dioxide produced in the channel emerges as bubbles that block and hinders reactant transport to the active sites of the anode. DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (MAE) 2012-11-01T06:56:09Z 2012-11-01T06:56:09Z 2012 2012 Thesis Seyed, A. M. S. (2012). Microfluidic fuel cell for off-the-grid applications. Doctoral thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/50777 10.32657/10356/50777 en 163 p. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering::Energy conservation
DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering::Fluid mechanics
DRNTU::Science::Chemistry::Physical chemistry::Electrochemistry
spellingShingle DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering::Energy conservation
DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering::Fluid mechanics
DRNTU::Science::Chemistry::Physical chemistry::Electrochemistry
Seyed Ali Mousavi Shaegh
Microfluidic fuel cell for off-the-grid applications
description The present doctoral thesis studies air-breathing microfluidic fuel cells with separated fuel and electrolyte streams as well as a membraneless fuel cell with selective electrodes. In order to gain more insight into the physio-chemical reactions, numerical simulation of the in-house developed air-breathing microfluidic fuel cell is formulated and solved using COMSOL Multiphysics. The results from the simulation show that fuel stream at the anode side and its interaction with the electrolyte stream has significant impact on the total fuel cell performance. As the first step for improving the hydrodynamic manipulation of the fuel stream, a flow-through porous anode is introduced. The effects of flow architecture on fuel utilization and the whole cell performance are investigated. Experimental results show that the flow-through porous anode improves the cell current in a long-term performance test as compared to the conventional design with flow-over planar anode. Because of the improved current generation, the rate of carbon dioxide generation in the cell increases. At high current densities, carbon dioxide produced in the channel emerges as bubbles that block and hinders reactant transport to the active sites of the anode.
author2 Chan Siew Hwa
author_facet Chan Siew Hwa
Seyed Ali Mousavi Shaegh
format Theses and Dissertations
author Seyed Ali Mousavi Shaegh
author_sort Seyed Ali Mousavi Shaegh
title Microfluidic fuel cell for off-the-grid applications
title_short Microfluidic fuel cell for off-the-grid applications
title_full Microfluidic fuel cell for off-the-grid applications
title_fullStr Microfluidic fuel cell for off-the-grid applications
title_full_unstemmed Microfluidic fuel cell for off-the-grid applications
title_sort microfluidic fuel cell for off-the-grid applications
publishDate 2012
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/50777
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