Sustainable Polymer-Based Microfluidic Fuel Cells for Low-Power Applications

Abstract

The growing demands of energy have generated interest in the development of miniaturized power sources. In this context, the potential of microfluidics for energy generation is immense. Microfluidic devices are very useful for manipulation and control of fluid flow at low Reynolds number which has immense application in industrial and biomedical domains. During laminar flow, mixing by turbulence is minimized and the only remaining mechanism for mixing is diffusion. Fuel cells which convert the chemical energy of a fuel into electric power have emerged as an alternative means of energy production. Miniaturized fuel cells offer several benefits over conventional methods such as portability and faster mass transfer. Hence, microfluidic fuel cell offers the possibilities of a fast start-up device for rapid energy generation with high power density, low cost, and disposability with minimum environmental impact. However, the use of appropriate fabrication method and suitable material in the development and successful implementation of microfluidic fuel cells is highly crucial. The material should be readily available, inexpensive, and adaptable for the fabrication process. In this chapter, we discuss polymer materials for microfluidic fuel cell design. The polymers are used as a material to design the fuel cell and as a proton exchange membrane along with assisting in oxygen transport as air-breathing layers. We will describe the above aspects in detail to look at the current challenges in microfluidic fuel cells and arrive at a solution which is simple and innovative for the low-power applications. Our aim is to emphasize sustainable polymers at low cost to realize the potential of microfluidic fuel cell devices.