Recent advances in direct methanol fuel cells at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Direct ethanol fuel cells based on PtSn anodes: the effect of Sn content on the fuel cell performance

“…4). Both the open-circuit voltages and the maximum power densities are enhanced in comparison with those obtained at 60 • C. In the current density region from 0 to 80 mA/cm 2 Pt 1 Ru 1 /C [25], which indicates that Pt 1 Sn 1 /C is more active to ethanol electro-oxidation than Pt 1 Ru 1 /C, which is primarily used as anode catalysts for methanol electro-oxidation and CO-tolerance at present. Even at the current density of 60 mA/cm 2 , the cell voltage is still as high as 0.58 V, and the corresponding power density is 34.8 mW/cm 2 , still higher than the maximum power density of the single cell with Pt 1 Ru 1 /C.…”

“…Low molecular weight alcohols, methanol and ethanol, are reasonably inexpensive and largely available, having higher electrochemical reactivity at relatively low temperatures. The direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) technology has already been demonstrated by Ballard [1], the Los Alamos National Laboratory [2] and others [3][4][5][6] to possess many beneficial characteristics appropriate to the commercial application, and great progresses have been made in this field recently [7][8]. The oxidation of methanol over Pt alloyed with other metals has been accepted as a method to overcome the insufficient activity of pure Pt for these purposes.…”

Electrocatalytic reduction of oxygen: Gold and gold-platinum nanoparticle catalysts prepared by two-phase protocol

“…Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) offer a simpler solution and require no reformer. Currently, the energy density (~2000 Wh/kg) and operating cell voltage (0.4 V) for methanol fuel cells are much lower than the theoretical energy density (~6000 Wh/kg) and the thermodynamic potential (~1.2 V) due to poor activity of the anode catalysts and ''methanol cross-over'' to the cathode electrode (1,2), which lead to a loss of about one-third of the available energy at the cathode and another one-third at the anode. Pt-group metals are extensively studied for both anode and cathode catalysts, but a major problem is the poisoning of Pt by CO-like intermediate species (3)(4)(5).…”

Sulfonated poly(phthalazinone ether ketone) for proton exchange membranes in direct methanol fuel cells

“…DMFCs are particularly attractive for their use in road transportation because their low operating temperatures allow short start-up times and the infrastructure of the fuelling stations already exist if methanol is used as fuel [1,2]. Other areas of significant DMFC application interests are portable and micro-fuel cells for consumer electronics, such as laptop computers and cell phones.…”