Sodium Percarbonate Fuel Cells Based on Porous Paper Supports

A self-pumping T-shaped paper based fuel cell was fabricated using sodium percarbonate as a fuel and potassium permanganate as an oxidant. The cell is portable, economic, lightweight and compact, consumes less fuel, and can be easily regenerated. Whatman filter papers served \ud as porous supports for fluids. Different electrolytes (for fuel and oxidant) and different gel electrolytes were attempted. Among acidic media, mixed media and basic media, the mixed media combination outperforms both acidic and basic media combinations. A T-shaped mixed media paper based fuel cell at 3 M sodium percarbonate (SPC) as fuel concentration produces OCV of 1.22 V. It generates a maximum current density of 3.21 mA/cm2 and a maximum power density of 1.2 mW/cm2at optimum fuel (3 M SPC) concentration without any catalyst. Au NPs were used as catalyst, and the maximum current and maximum power densities increased to 5.357 mA/cm2 and 2.15 mW/cm2 respectively