Fabrication of High Performance Electroactive Catalyst for Methanol Oxidation In Fuel Cell Application

Abstract

The ever-increasing energy consumption and continuous usage of fossil fuels with the emission of greenhouse gas have directed the research towards the development of alternate energy sources. Thus, fuel cell technology provides more efficient energy with low emissions. Among different fuel cells, Direct Methanol Fuel Cell or DMFC has gained much attention due to its advantages that reflect in broader applications. But, the cost and stability of the currently used active Pt catalysts limit the large-scale commercialization of DMFC. Therefore, the present work is aimed at the development of suitable substitution of electrocatalyst for methanol electrooxidation. newlineTransition metals exhibit excellent electrocatalytic activity due to their electronic properties and adsorption or absorption properties. Among the transition metals, Ni and Cu have considerable attention due to their low-cost and proven activity in various processes. However, Ni-based electrodes are known for the good performance for methanol electrooxidation. In view of that, electrodes that are developed in this work are Ni coated Ni-gauze, Ni-Co alloy, Ni-Zn-P, Ni-Co-B, and metal-complex coated stainless-steel (SS) gauze. Considering the surface area, the gauze substrate is selected. The testing of Single Direct Methanol Fuel Cell was carried out for all the modified electrodes exhibiting good electrocatalytic activity towards oxidation. newlineA brief introduction about DMFC and a thorough review of literature on the electrooxidation of methanol is discussed in chapter 1. The review is more focussed on the recent developments of electrocatalysts and its support for the methanol electrooxidation. The chapter concludes with the objective and justification of research. Chapter 2 describes the materials, methods of deposition of various electrocatalysts on gauze substrate, and details of the instrument employed for conduct of the research work. Chapter 3 discusses the methanol oxidation performance of Ni coated Ni gauze and Ni-Co alloy coated SS gauze..