In-Situ UV Raman Study On The Direct Ethanol Fuel Cells

People pay much attention on direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs) as ethanol is a renewable and clean resource. The DEFCs is a potential replacement of methanol fuel cell due to its non-toxic and non-permission characters. Researchers have studied DEFCs using different techniques aiming at improving the activity of catalyst, the performance of the fuel cell and the operating life. There have been fewer reports on the mechanism of ethanol catalytic oxidation by far. The investigation on ethanol catalytic oxidation mechanism by UV-Raman spectroscopy technology combining with in-situ single cell has not been reported. The study on the mechanism of ethanol catalytic oxidation can improve the electrochemical reaction rate and design efficient ethanol fuel cells.In this study, the intermediates and products of the ethanol oxidation reaction were investigated by in-situ UV Raman spectroscopy and gas chromatography. The Raman signals of ethanol, catalyst and intermediates were successfully detected by the UV-Raman spectroscopy combined with specially designed in-situ single cell.CO2 and H2O produced in the catalytic oxidation reaction of ethanol can be detected by gas chromatography, indicating that the good operation condition of the fuel cell. A new peak at 1713 cm-1, which is assigned to stretching mode of C=O in acetaldehyde or acetic acid, is observed in Raman spectra. Furthermore, more about ethanol catalytic oxidation mechanism can be obtained by improving the conditions of experiment and observing the changes of the intermediates and products.