Effect of carbon substrate materials as a Pt–Ru catalyst support on the performance of direct methanol fuel cells

The support effect of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) was studied using CNTs with and without defect preparation, carbon black, and fishbone-type CNTs. The Pt–Ru/defect-free CNTs afforded the highest catalytic activity of methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) in rotating dis...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of power sources Vol. 180; no. 1; pp. 221 - 226
Main Authors Yoo, Eunjoo, Okada, Tatsuhiro, Kizuka, Tokushi, Nakamura, Junji
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Lausanne Elsevier B.V 15.05.2008
Elsevier Sequoia
Subjects
Anode catalyst
Anodizing
Applied sciences
Carbon
Carbon monoxide
Carbon nanotube
Catalysts
Direct methanol fuel cell
Energy
Energy. Thermal use of fuels
Equipments for energy generation and conversion: thermal, electrical, mechanical energy, etc
Exact sciences and technology
Fuel cells
Methyl alcohol
Oxidation
Platinum
Ruthenium
Carbon nanotube
Ruthenium
Anode catalyst
Direct methanol fuel cell
Platinum
Carbon black
Rotating disk electrode
Carbon nanotubes
Alcohol fuel cells
Supported catalyst
Interface properties
Oxidation
Performance
Catalyst activity
Methanol
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Summary:The support effect of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) was studied using CNTs with and without defect preparation, carbon black, and fishbone-type CNTs. The Pt–Ru/defect-free CNTs afforded the highest catalytic activity of methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) in rotating disk electrode experiments and the highest performance as the anode catalysts in DMFC single cell tests with the one-half platinum loading compared to Pt–Ru/VulcanXC-72R. CO stripping voltammograms with Pt–Ru/defect-free CNTs also revealed the lowest CO oxidation potential among other Pt–Ru catalysts using different carbon support. It is thus considered that the carbon substrates significantly affect the CO oxidation activity of anode electrocatalysts in DMFC. This is ascribed to the geometrical effect that the flat interface between CNTs and metal catalysts has a unique feature, at which the electron transfer occurs, and this interface would modify the catalytic properties of Pt–Ru particles.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0378-7753
1873-2755
DOI:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2008.01.065