Research On Anode Electrocatalysts For Direct Alcohol Fuel Cell

Direct alcohol fuel cells have gained amount of attentions within the last years due to its high power density, simple operation, and portability. As a green and renewable fuel, ethanol is less toxic and is available from crop ferment. However, the complete electrooxidation of ethanol involves the transfer of 12 electronics and 12 protons arising from not only dehydrogenation but cleavage of C-C bonds. The electrooxidation process of ethanol, resulting to more by-products, is much more complex than methanol. This makes the development of anode electrocatalysts for ethanol electrooxidation a great challenge task.PtSn/C electrocatalyst was prepared by three methods and the results show that the modified polyol method is suitable for preparing high metal-loading nanocatalysts with uniform distribution and small particle size. The synthesis parameters, including tin precursors, Pt/Sn atomic ratio, reduction temperature, and the post treatment atmosphere, etc., were investigated in detail. Employing X-ray Diffraction and Analysis Electron Microscopy, the effect of Sn and Ru on the variation of the Pt lattice parameter was studied. The relationship between the structure of PtSn and PtRu nanoparticles and their catalytic activity on ethanol electrooxidation was studied. It was found that PtSn/C with the dilated lattice parameter of Pt showed higher activity for ethanol electrooxidation than PtRu/C with the contracted Pt lattice parameter.On the basis of the controllable synthesis of SnO₂ nanopartilces, three kinds...