We will present our recent research on electrocatalytic oxidation of glycerol in anion exchange membrane fuel cell (AEMFC) reactors to simultaneously generate valuable chemicals and electricity. A solution-phase reduction method was developed to prepare Pt, Pd, Au and bimetallic catalysts, such as PtNi, PtCo, PtSn, PdFe, etc with small particle size of 2-5 nm as working catalysts. The AEMFC with low Pt loading (1.0mg/cm2) demonstrated high power density of over 145 mW/cm2. It is found that under AEMFC operation conditions (anode overpotential of 0.3-0.7 V vs SHE), Pt prefers to break C-C bond of C3 chemicals to form glycolic acid, while Au facilitates deeper-oxidation of glycerol to mesoxalic acid (not C-C bond cleavage). Potential plays a significant role in governing oxidation products. A high glycolate selectivity of 85% was obtained on Au/CNT catalyst at 1.6 V vs. SHE at mild conditions (room temperature, atmosphere pressure, water solvent).

Simultaneous generation of valuable chemicals and electricity from selective electrocatalytic oxidation of glycerol in anion exchange membrane fuel cell reactors

244th National Meeting (2012)

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