Preparation and characterization of anode catalysts for the direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFC): methanol and ethanol

Abstract

The development of high performance electrode materials has been the key research objective in the field of direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFC) [1, 2, and 3]. A promising way to attain higher catalytic performance is to add a third element to the best binary catalysts used as the anode, such as Pt-Ru and Pt-Sn for methanol and ethanol respectively [4,5]. The catalysts for the electrooxidation of methanol and ethanol in this report were prepared by the impregnation of the carbon support with Pt, M1 and M2 precursor solutions followed by reduction of the precursors. Catalysts prepared were: Pt-M1-M2/C (M1=Sn or Ru, M2= Ir). Phosphorus was deposited on these catalysts and their electrochemical activities were compared. The prepared catalysts were used in the fabrication of a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) and tested for performance in a direct alcohol fuel cell. The results presented will comparatively show the efficacy of the catalysts