A planar and membraneless microscale fuel cell using nickel and silver as catalysts

The paper presents the development and demonstration of new microscale fuel cells with planar and membraneless structure. The developed fuel cell utilizes electroplated nickel and silver as catalysts of anode and cathode, respectively. With a proper fuel mixture of methanol, hydrogen peroxide, and potassium hydroxide, microscale fuel cell exhibits an extractable power density up to 10.1 μW/cm². The developed fuel cell does not require noble catalytic materials such as platinum or ruthenium. Due to its simple structure, the anode and cathode can be defined on the same plane without a proton exchange membrane, which enables that the fuel cell dimensions can flexibly be adjusted to meet specific design needs for the applications of microfluidic systems and portable power sources.