Nonenzymatic alkaline direct glucose fuel cell with a silicon microchannel plate supported electrocatalytic electrode

Highly active Pd-Ni/Si microchannel plate (MCP) electrocatalytic electrode has been synthesized by combining conventional microelectronics technology with electrochemical techniques. The obtained Pd-Ni/Si-MCP electrocatalytic electrode was characterized by SEM, energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), XRD, and electrochemical measurements. The results show that Pd-Ni/Si-MCP electrocatalytic electrode possesses better stability and higher activity in comparison with Pd-Ni/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 Pd-Ni nanoparticles, ordered microchannels, and high surface-to-volume ratio of backbone Si-MCP. Especially, the compatibility of silicon microelectronics processing could achieve monolithic integration of Si-based microfabricated fuel cells.