Synthesis of AuxCo100 − x/MWCNT nanoparticles as an efficient anode electrocatalyst for borohydride oxidation in alkaline medium

Electrodeposited Cobalt Nanoflake Arrays as an Efficient Anodic Catalyst for Direct Borohydride Fuel Cells

“…Nevertheless, because the BOR is a complex eight-electron process, the practical applications of DBFCs remain limited in scope due to the lack of highly efficient catalysts for the BOR at their anode. , So far, platinum group metals and coinage metals, as well as their alloys, are generally used to drive the proceeding of BOR. ,− Pt and Pd are suggested to favor a dissociative adsorption of BH 4 – on its surface, thereby facilitating a cleavage of B–H bond to promote the BOR. , However, these metals can also efficiently catalyze the parallel borohydride hydrolysis reaction due to their moderate binding with hydrogen, which is thus harmful for the selectivity of BOR and fuel utilization. , Au owes a better selectivity of BOR over the parallel reactions, but the weak binding with BH 4 – makes it less active toward the BOR. , Earth-abundant transition metals Co and Ni are regarded as alternative low cost catalysts for BOR, on account of the preferred dissociative adsorption of BH 4 – on them. ,, Low onset potentials of BOR approaching the theoretical value were observed in both metals, even more negative than those in the Pt and Pd materials, which can benefit larger open-circuit cell voltages of DBFCs. − However, the BOR activities of Co and Ni suffer from obvious degradations caused by the surface oxidation at high anodic polarization to reach large operation current densities. ,, …”