Recently, direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFC) have been informed as attractive power sources with high potential for electronic devices and vehicles. Ethanol is considered as a renewable energy resource because it has low toxicity, easy to handle and store, and produced in large quantities from biomass and agricultural waste, and has a high energy density of 8.0 kWh kg-1. At the same time, many problems have prevented the development of commercial DEFC, including incomplete ethanol oxidation, low current densities, low faradic efficiencies, and crossover through the membrane. To overcome these problems, many catalysts have been developed to increase the activity, selectivity, and efficiency of DEFC. Studying the effects of alloying Pt catalysts with Ni on the oxidation of ethanol has increased. Nickel has been found to enhance the activity of Pt toward the ethanol oxidation reaction because it is a more electropositive metal than Pt. It enhances the bifunctional mechanism, in which a more electropositive metal provides more hydroxide species on the surface of the catalyst and drives the oxidation of the adsorbed CO (COads) intermediate to produce CO2. The primary objective of this research is to study the performance, activity, and selectivity for the complete oxidation of ethanol to carbon dioxide in DEFC at PtNix/C (x is Ni:Pt molar ratio) catalysts.

PtNix/C catalysts for improved performance and CO2 yield in ethanol fuel cells

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.