Use of commercial TiO2 as direct ethanol fuel cell electrocatalyst support L. M. M. Brasil, C. F. Malfatti, Andrés Cuña, M. Cadorin and L.A.S. Ries   2019/07/15

Abstract

Direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs) are efficient converters of chemical energy into electrical energy. DEFCs operate at low temperatures, and an anode, a cathode and an electrolyte are the main constituents. In alkaline media, electrocatalysts, responsible for promoting anodic and cathodic reactions, are generally composed of palladium supported on carbon black. Other materials have been studied in order to make the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) more efficient. In this work, the effect of commercial TiO2 as alternative support to Pd-based catalysts for the EOR was evaluated. The synthesized materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction, linear voltammetry and chronoamperometry, aiming to determine the effect of different supports on the performance of the EOR.

Authors and affiliations

L. M. M. Brasil¹, C. F. Malfatti¹, Andrés Cuña², M. Cadorin¹ and L.A.S. Ries³.
¹ LAPEC/PPGE3M, UFRGS - Porto Alegre/RS, Brazil
² UDELAR. Cátedra de Fisicoquímica (DETEMA), Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
³ UERGS- Novo Hamburgo/RS, Brazil

Key words

Direct ethanol fuel cell, TiO2 catalyst support, Pd-based electrocatalyst, ethanol electrooxidation reaction.

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