Nonenzymatic Alkaline Direct Glucose Fuel Cell With a Silicon Microchannel Plate Supported Electrocatalytic Electrode

Abstract

Highly active PdNi/Si microchannel plate (MCP) electrocatalytic electrode has been synthesized by combining conventional microelectronics technology with electrochemical techniques. The obtained PdNi/SiMCP electrocatalytic electrode was characterized by SEM, energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), XRD, and electrochemical measurements. The results show that PdNi/SiMCP electrocatalytic electrode possesses better stability and higher activity in comparison with PdNi/Si prepared by the same procedure. The high performance of the fuel cell is mainly attributed to the increased kinetics of both the glucose oxidation reaction and oxygen reduction reaction, rendered by a better electrocatalytic activity of PdNi nanoparticles, ordered microchannels, and high surfacetovolume ratio of backbone SiMCP. Especially, the compatibility of silicon microelectronics processing could achieve monolithic integration of Sibased microfabricated fuel cells.