Chip-embedded thin film current collector for microfluidic fuel cells

Microfluidic fuel cells are an attractive candidate for low-power applications and provide a unique advantage over traditional fuel cells by elimination of the membrane. More importantly, microfluidic fuel cells enable a simple single-layer structure similar to common lab-on-chip devices, which makes conventional microfabrication or micromachining techniques readily applicable. Microfabrication is a preferable fabrication tool for microscale devices due to the benefits of high precision and repeatability at relatively low cost. However, the performance of most microfluidic fuel cells reported to date was negatively influenced by intrinsic contact resistances arising due to the highly porous nature of the electrodes. In the present work, a chip-embedded thin film current collector for vanadium fueled microfluidic fuel cells is proposed, fabricated, and evaluated as a potential mitigation strategy. The micromachining based thin film process is compatible with the overall cell fabrication, comprising photolithography and soft lithography, and does not require a substantial modification of the original cell design. Cells with and without current collectors are directly compared experimentally: the cell with current collectors demonstrates a 79% increase in peak power density, indicating that the contact resistance is significantly reduced by this approach. A volume specific peak power density of 6.2 W cm−3 is achieved, which is significantly higher than for previously reported microfluidic fuel cells. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analysis is carried out to measure the combined ohmic cell resistance and confirmed a 32% reduction using the current collectors, which shows a good agreement with slope decrements in the polarization curves.

► A chip-embedded thin film current collector for microfluidic fuel cells is proposed.
► The peak power density with the prototype current collector is increased by 79%.
► EIS measurements demonstrate a significant reduction in ohmic cell resistance.
► A single body electrode/current collector configuration is recommended.