Alkaline Ethanol Oxidation Reaction on Carbon Supported Ternary PdNiBi Nanocatalyst using Modified Instant Reduction Synthesis Method

Abstract

Direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFC) still lack active and efficient electrocatalysts for the alkaline ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR). In this work, a new instant reduction synthesis method was developed to prepare carbon supported ternary PdNiBi nanocatalysts with improved EOR activity. Synthesized catalysts were characterized with a variety of structural and compositional analysis techniques in order to correlate their morphology and surface chemistry with electrochemical performance. The modified instant reduction synthesis results in well-dispersed, spherical Pd 85 Ni 10 Bi 5 nanoparticles on Vulcan XC72R support (Pd 85 Ni 10 Bi 5 /C (II-III) ), with sizes ranging from 3.7 ± 0.8 to 4.7 ± 0.7 nm. On the other hand, the common instant reduction synthesis method leads to significantly agglomerated nanoparticles (Pd 85 Ni 10 Bi 5 /C (I) ). EOR activity and stability of these three different carbon supported PdNiBi anode catalysts with a nominal atomic ratio of 85:10:5 were probed via cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry using the rotating disk electrode method. Pd 85 Ni 10 Bi 5 /C (II) showed the highest electrocatalytic activity (150 mA⋅cm −2 ; 2678 mA⋅mg −1 ) with low onset potential (0.207 V) for EOR in alkaline medium, as compared to a commercial Pd/C and to the other synthesized ternary nanocatalysts Pd 85 Ni 10 Bi 5 /C (I) and Pd 85 Ni 10 Bi 5 /C (III) . This new synthesis approach provides a new avenue to developing efficient, carbon supported ternary nanocatalysts for future energy conversion devices. Keywords Pd 85 Ni 10 Bi 5 nanocatalyst . Modified instant reduction synthesis method . Ethanol oxidation reaction activity . Structure . Morphology . Alkaline direct ethanol fuel cell Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.

Efficient Chitosan/Nitrogen-Doped Reduced Graphene Oxide Composite Membranes for Direct Alkaline Ethanol Fuel Cells

“…The catalyst ink was prepared by dispersing the electrocatalysts in a mixture of 2-propanol (99.9% p.a., Roth) and distilled water (7:3) containing 30 wt.% of a commercial anion exchange ionomer (fumion ® FAA-3 solution in NPM, 10%). The cathode was prepared by spraying the ink slurry of a commercial PtRu/C catalyst (Platinum, nominally 40%, Ruthenium, nominally 20% on carbon black, HiSPEC ® 10000) onto a carbon paper as GDL (Sigracet 29 BC, fuel cell store, 0.235 mm thick), whereas an ink of a PdNiBi/C catalyst synthesized by the modified instant reduction method [ 16 ] was sprayed on a carbon cloth (ELAT—hydrophilic plain cloth, fuel cell store, 0.406 mm thick) to fabricate the anode. The electrode preparation resulted in a metal loading of 0.5 mg cm −2 for the cathode and 0.75 mg cm −2 for the anode.…”

Mechanistic effects of blending formic acid with ethanol on Pd activity towards formic acid oxidation in acidic media

“…In this study, we showed that the presence of ethanol could change the FAO oxidation mechanism and inhibits the IDPW. However, the long-term instability of Pd/C catalyst in acidic media 29,40,41 makes it difficult to differentiate between the catalyst poisoning versus catalyst instability as a reason behind the Pd catalyst deactivation with cycling, using CV technique. catalyst is found to lose 58.5, 33.3, and 16.5% of its surface area aer 100 cycles when the 0.39, 0.05, and À0.3 V were used as upper potential, respectively.…”

“…The effect of the blend on the presence/absence of the FA IDPW was not clear since the formic acid concentration was low (0.3 M). Pallidum is one of the most active metals towards (EOR) in alkaline medium, [26][27][28][29] however it is inactive towards ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) in acidic medium. [30][31][32][33] As shown in (Scheme 1).…”

A comprehensive and critical review of the recent progress in electrocatalysts for the ethanol oxidation reaction

“…Moreover, the carbon support helped in the fine dispersion of nanoparticles, increased the number of active sites and controlled the particle size and their distribution. 125 …”