Carbon nano-tube supported Pt¨CPd as methanol-resistant oxygen reduction electrocatalyts for enhancing catalytic activity in DMFCs

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• 作者：Ahmad Nozad Golikand ; Elaheh Lohrasbi ; Mohammad Ghannadi Maragheh and Mehdi Asgari
• 关键词：Direct methanol fuel cell ; Oxygen reduction ; Gas diffusion electrode ; Methanol ; resistant ; Bimetallic electrocatalyst
• 刊名：Journal of Applied Electrochemistry
• 出版年：2009
• 出版时间：December, 2009
• 年：2009
• 卷：39
• 期：12
• 页码：2421-2431
• 全文大小：497.5 KB

文摘

This work tries to study the problem of methanol crossover through the polymer electrolyte in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) by developing new cathode electrocatalysts. For this purpose, a series of gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs) were prepared by using single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) supported Pt–Pd (Pt–Pd/SWCNT) with different Pd contents at the fixed metal loading of 50 wt % , as bimetallic electrocatalysts, in the catalyst layer. Pt–Pd/SWCNT was prepared by depositing the Pt and Pd nanoparticles on a SWCNTs support. The elemental compositions of bimetallic catalysts were characterized by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) system. The performances of the GDEs in the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) and in the oxygen reduction reaction with/without the effect of methanol oxidation reaction were investigated by means of electrochemical techniques: cyclic voltammetry (CV), linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The results indicated that GDEs with Pt–Pd/SWCNT possess excellent electrocatalytic properties for oxygen reduction reaction in the presence of methanol, which can originate from the presence of Pd atoms and from the composition effect.