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Study on Mass Transport for Efficient Energy Conversion

초록/요약

The thesis aims to realize efficient mass transport (for example, ions, molecules and/or photons) in micro/nanofluidic systems through characteristic length optimization, flow control, and use of electrokinetic phenomena. First, a high-voltage nanofluidic power-generating platform is proposed and a multi-layer microfluidic platform is utilized to realize the ion exchange membrane stacks in microsystem. The microchannel structure and dimension is optimized for increased ion selectivity of the ion exchange membrane and highly efficient ion transport in the compartments between the membranes. Moreover, a fabric-based enzymatic glucose biofuel cell is proposed for wearable use and it is utilized as power supply for wearable electronics. The fabrics widely used in sportswear enables fast water absorption and wicking. The balanced evaporation in the fabrics is critical to realize high-speed and continuous flow, which can overcome the mass transfer limitation near the electrodes which occurs seriously especially in the hydrostatic electrolyte and enable improved power generation performance and long-term use. Finally, electrokinetic-assisted photocatalytic micro reactor is proposed. Concentration polarization, electrokinetic phenomena under potential bias in the reactor is utilized to improve the mass transfer and to increase the contact between photocatalyst and ion/molecules, and the applied potential bias can also suppress the recombination of photo-excited electrons and holes. Therefore, the synergic effects result in a high reaction rate in the proposed photocatalytic micro reactor.

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