Nickel-cobalt bimetallic anode catalysts for direct urea fuel cell

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 4; no. 1; p. 5863
• Main Authors: Xu, Wei, Zhang, Huimin, Li, Gang, Wu, Zucheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 29.08.2014; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 147/135; 147/143; 639/638/161; 639/638/77; Catalysis; Catalysts; Cobalt; Cobalt - chemistry; conference-proceeding; Electric Power Supplies; Electrodes; Fuel cells; Fuel technology; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; multidisciplinary; Nanoparticles; Nickel; Nickel - chemistry; Oxidizing agents; Particle Size; Science; Temperature effects; Urea; Urea - chemistry; Urine; Urine - chemistry
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep05863

Nickel is an ideal non-noble metal anode catalyst for direct urea fuel cell (DUFC) due to its high activity. However, there exists a large overpotential toward urea electrooxidation. Herein, NiCo/C bimetallic nanoparticles were prepared with various Co contents (0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 wt%) to improve the activity. The best Co ratio was 10% in the aspect of cell performance, with a maximum power density of 1.57 mW cm −2 when 0.33 M urea was used as fuel, O 2 as oxidant at 60°C. The effects of temperature and urea concentration on DUFC performance were investigated. Besides, direct urine fuel cell reaches a maximum power density of 0.19 mW cm −2 with an open circuit voltage of 0.38 V at 60°C.