The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 14, 2008
Filed:
Jun. 10, 2005
Jamie Lee Cohen, Ithaca, NY (US);
David James Volpe, Ithaca, NY (US);
Daron A. Westly, Ithaca, NY (US);
Alexander Pechenik, Ithaca, NY (US);
Hector D. Abruna, Ithaca, NY (US);
Jamie Lee Cohen, Ithaca, NY (US);
David James Volpe, Ithaca, NY (US);
Daron A. Westly, Ithaca, NY (US);
Alexander Pechenik, Ithaca, NY (US);
Hector D. Abruna, Ithaca, NY (US);
Cornell Research Foundation, Inc., Ithaca, NY (US);
Abstract
A planar microfluidic membraneless flow cell. The design eliminates the need for a mechanical membrane, such as a polyelectrolyte membrane (PEM) in a fuel cell, by providing a flow channel in which laminar flow regimes exist in two fluids flowing in mutual contact to form a 'virtual interface' in the flow channel. In the flow cell, diffusion at the interface is the only mode of mass transport between the two fluids. In a fuel cell embodiment, a planar design provides to large contact areas between the two streams, which are fuel and oxidant streams, and between each stream and a respective electrode. In some embodiments, silicon microchannels, of fixed length and variable width and height, have been used to generate power using formic acid as fuel and oxygen as oxidant. Power densities on the order of 180 μW/cmhave been obtained using this planar design.