Numerical Simulation of the Influence of Structural Parameters on the Performance of a Direct Sodium Formate/Sodium Persulfate Microfluidic Fuel Cell

Abstract

The numerical simulation regarding the influences of the structural parameters on the performance of the direct sodium formate/sodium persulfate microfluidic fuel cell (MFC) is conducted. These structural parameters include electrode lengths and widths, main channel heights, anode electrode thicknesses, cathode electrode thicknesses, and anode catalyst layer thicknesses. Numerical results show that increasing the electrode length, electrode width, and main channel height causes a decrease in both the peak power density and limiting current density, while increases in the cathode electrode thickness and anode catalyst layer thickness contribute to improvements in this MFC performance. Variation in the anode electrode thickness shows a negligible impact on this MFC performance. With an electrode length of 15 mm, electrode width of 0.5 mm, main channel height of 0.4 mm, anode thickness of 0.2 mm, cathode thickness of 0.8 mm, and anode catalyst layer thickness of 0.06 mm, the peak power density reaches 135.08 mW·cm^–2 and the limiting current density is 615.38 mA·cm^–2. To assess how these parameters affect the peak power density and limiting current density, a parametric sensitivity analysis is carried out. The sensitivity analysis reveals that the cathode electrode thickness and anode catalyst layer thickness show positive effects, while the electrode length, electrode width, and main channel height impose negative effects on this MFC performance. Among these structural parameters, the influence of the cathode electrode thickness is the most significant, followed by that of the electrode length.