In-situ characterization of symmetric dual-pass architecture of microfluidic co-laminar flow cells

• An analytical cell design is proposed for characterization of dual-pass flow cells
• High power density up to 0.75 W cm−2 is demonstrated
• The performance contributions of the inlet and outlet passes are of the same order
• Downstream crossover is analyzed as a function of cell current and flow rate

Microfluidic co-laminar flow cells with dual-pass architecture enable fuel recirculation and in-situ regeneration, and offer improvements in performance characteristics. In this work, a unique analytical cell design is proposed, with two split portions having flow-through porous electrodes. Each cell portion is first tested individually with vanadium redox species and the results are used to quantify the previously unknown crossover losses at the downstream portion of the cell, shown here to be a strong function of the flow rate. Moreover, the upstream cell portion demonstrates impressive room-temperature power density up to 0.75 W cm−2 at 1.0 A cm−2, which is the highest performance reported to date for a microfluidic vanadium redox battery. Next, the two cell portions are connected in parallel to resemble a complete cell with dual-pass architecture, thereby enabling novel in-situ diagnostics of the inlet and outlet passes of the cell. For instance, the reactant utilization efficiency of the downstream cell portion is shown to be on the same order as that of the upstream portion at both low and high flow rates. Furthermore, in-situ regeneration is also demonstrated. Overall, the present results provide a deeper understanding of dual-pass reactant conversion and crossover which will be useful for future device optimization.

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