Reply to “Comments on the paper [‘Electrooxidation of borohydride on platinum and gold electrodes: Implications for direct borohydride fuel cells’ by E. Gyenge, Electrochim. Acta 49 (2004) 965]: Thiourea, a poison for the anode metallic electrocatalyst of the direct borohydride fuel cell?” by Ü.B. Demirci, Electrochim. Acta 52 (2007) 5119

The electrooxidation of borohydride: A mechanistic study on palladium (Pd/C) applying RRDE, 11B-NMR and FTIR

“…Direct borohydride fuel cells (DBFCs) are of great interest especially for portable applications due to the capability of borohydride anion BH 4 − to deliver up to 8 electrons per molecule at very low potentials of −1.24 V vs. SHE [1]. Sodium borohydride (NaBH 4 ) was first proposed as anodic fuel in 1962, pointing out the benefits of high storage density and long-term stability in alkaline solution [2].…”

The effect of catalyst support on the performance of PtRu in direct borohydride fuel cell anodes

“…According to Tsang and Prasad, the basis for PtRu is to facilitate the hydrolysis of borohydride via reaction (4) on Ru and oxidize the hydrogen on Pt via reaction (5). It is likely however that direct borohydride electrooxidation also takes place on the Pt.…”

“…Therefore, improving the faradaic efficiency of direct borohydride oxidation to possibly n = 8 (Eq. 1) while minimizing the hydrogen evolution has been the focus of many investigations [5,20,21]. Methods that have been investigated for faradaic efficiency improvement include the addition of additives such as thiourea [5,21], and the use of different catalysts such as AgNi, Au, and Os [5,20,22,23].…”

“…For instance, on Pt the direct oxidation of NaBH 4 must compete with the heterogeneous hydrolysis reaction according to reaction (4); however on Au catalysts the hydrolysis reaction is practically nonexistent [5]. Recently there have been some interest in optimizing the hydrolysis reaction for the application of indirect borohydride fuel cells (IBFC) where oxidation proceeds through reactions (4) and (5) [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

Investigation of Ti mesh-supported anodes for direct borohydride fuel cells

“…The mechanism and kinetics of borohydride oxidation have been investigated using fundamental electrochemical techniques such as cyclic voltammetry and rotating disk electrode [8][9][10][11][12]. Gold and gold alloys, e.g.…”