Membraneless microfluidic redox battery for wearable electronics applications

This work presents a flexible microfluidic redox battery (MRB) that utilizes a membraneless design that can be potentially used in wearable electronics as the power source. This device relies on the principles of laminar flow to separate the flows and inhibit the mixing of two electrolytes while allowing the chemical reaction to take place at the interface. This side-by-side flow design eliminates the need for expensive proton exchange membranes. Using the non-toxic 2,6-DHAQ and ferro/ferricyanide redox pair, this MRB can be integrated into wearable electronics as a power source. With small electrolyte volumes and relatively low solution concentrations, this MRB has been shown to achieve peak power densities of 0.75 mW/cm
²
at a current density of 1.75 mA/cm
²
, showing potential for ultra-low and low power wearable electronics applications.