Glycerol and Methanol Electro‐oxidation at Pt/C‐ITO under Alkaline Condition

Abstract

Thec ontinued reduction of fossil fuels together with the more stringent environmental protection legislation has been the focal point for the search for alternative energy sources. Fuel cell technology has obtained increasing attention as it can directly convert chemical energy from fuel into electrical energy,w ithout combustion, at high efficiencya nd low pollution [1,2].R ecently,d irect alcohol fuel cells (DAFCs)h ave attracted enormous attentionf or their high energy density,e fficiency, simple operation at room temperature and simple storage of liquid fuels and fuel purification [ 3,4].DAFCs efficiencies are vary according to specific characteristics,b eing the choice of the fuel, anode catalyst and, corresponding catalyst support of utmost importance [5,6].T hese characteristics makea lcohols attractive liquid fuels for the majorityo fp romising alternative power sources for transportation, portable electronics and stationary applications [7].T he most common DAFC is the direct methanolf uel cell (DMFC) and severalw orks in the recent years have been performed on the electron oxidation of methanol [8] and ethanol [9][10][11].Recently,g lycerol has emerged as ap otential fuel to feed anodes of DAFCs,d irect glycerolf uel cell (DGFC), due to its high theoretical energya nd availability,s ince it is am assive co-product of biodiesel fabrication [12].I mproved alcohol oxidation kinetics in the electrolyte can also be facilitated in the alkalinem edia rather than in the acid media. This can help to overcomet he kineticc onstraintsi nt he alcohol oxidation for operating DAFCs [13,14].O ne of the most criticalp oints of DAFCs performance are the electrocatalysts,d ue to this,m uch effort has been devoted to the development of new materials in order to overcome this problem.Pt-basede lectrocatalysts are the most universal type applied in DAFCs because they have high catalytica ctivity,g ood chemical stability and large currentd ensity.A lthough, theya lso have certain limitations such as high cost, easy poisoning by the adsorbed reaction intermediates [3],a mong other factors.A nother approachf or improving the Pt efficiency has been the search of different support materials that may be appliedf or electrocatalysts synthesis.C arbon nanomaterials with several shapesa nd structures such as nanostructured, carbon black, carbon nanofibers,m esoporousc arbon and carbon nanotubes, have been used as support for metal nanoparticles improving their electrocatalytic performance [15].OrdóÇez et al. [16] prepared aP te lectrocatalyst supported ontom ulti-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) for direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC)a pplication. Thea uthors described that CNTsi ncreased the activity of the Pt electrocatalyst and, in as ingle fuel cell tests occurred Abstract:Aphysical mixture composed by carbon Vulcan XC 72 and indiumt in oxide( ITO) with different ratios (85 :15; 50 :50; 85 :15) was used as support for platinum nanoparticles synthesis by borohydride reduction method. Thecharacterization of thiselectrocatalyst was pe...

Borohydride Reduction Method for PdIn/C Electrocatalysts Synthesis towards Glycerol Electrooxidation under Alkaline Condition

“…The voltammogram of PdIn/C 30 : 70 showed a suppressed hydrogen in the adsorption‐desorption region, which indicates the partial coverage of Pd atoms by In. For PdIn/C 90 : 10, an increase in the current values in −0.35 to ∼0.2 V was observed, indicating the abundance of oxide species [20, 21, 22]. The negative scan also showed an increase in the currents about −0.37 V (PdIn/C 90 : 10) associated with reducing oxide species [22, 23, 24].…”

“…The micrographs and histograms of the particle size distribution obtained by TEM for PdIn/C with different atomic ratios are illustrated in Figure 2. The size of the [20,21,22]. The negative scan also showed an increase in the currents about À 0.37 V (PdIn/C 90 : 10) associated with reducing oxide species [22,23,24].…”

Research Progress on Catalysts for the Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Methanol

“…Additionally, Ottoni et al [143] utilized a chemical reduction method using a physical mixture of different proportions of carbon Vulcan XC 72 and indium tin oxide (ITO) (85 : 15, 50 : 50, 85 : 15) as a carrier for the synthesis of platinum nanoparticles by borohydride reduction. According to the TEM photomicrograph, Pt/C-ITO nanoparticle showed the presence of large particle aggregates.…”

Performance of Pd Electrocatalyst Supported on a Physical Mixture Indium Tin Oxide–carbon for Glycerol Electro–oxidation in Alkaline Media

“…Ottoni et al [19] prepared Pt nanoparticles supported in a physical mixture composed by carbon Vulcan XC 72 and ITO with different ratios (85:15; 50:50; 85:15) for the electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol and glycerol. It was found that Pt/C-ITO systems are more effective than Pt/C for fuel oxidation in alkaline medium.…”