Highly dispersed tungsten carbide for fuel cells with an acidic electrolyte

✍ Scribed by V.Sh. Palanker; D.V. Sokolsky; E.A. Mazulevsky; E.N. Baybatyrov

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1976
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 536 KB
• Volume: 1
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0378-7753
• DOI: 10.1016/0378-7753(76)80019-5

✦ Synopsis

A technique for the preparation of highly dispersed tungsten carbide, useful as a catalyst for hydrogen electrodes in acidic electrolyte fuel cells, has been developed, and the properties of this material have been investigated. Optimum conditions for obtaining highly dispersed tungstic acid have been fount , the latter being employed as a starting material for the synthesis of highly dispersed tungsten carbide. By optimization of the synthesis conditions a tungsten carbide of specific surface up to 30 m2/g has been obtained. This tungsten carbide has been used as a catalyst for hydrogen electrodes. At a potential of 200 mV and 90 'C, a current density of 170 mA/cm2 has been reached. It has been shown that in H2S04 polarization of the hydrogen electrode at a potential above 300 mV for quite a long time increases the current on the tungsten carbide electrodes, instead of decreasing it.