Promoting effect of vanadium ions on the anodic Pd/C catalyst for direct formic acid fuel cell application

✍ Scribed by Junjie Ge; Xiumei Chen; Changpeng Liu; Tianhong Lu; Jianhui Liao; Liang Liang; Wei Xing

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 195 KB
• Volume: 55
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0013-4686
• DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2010.09.002

✦ Synopsis

In order to improve the catalytic activity and stability of the anodic Pd catalyst for a direct formic acid fuel cell, vanadium ions in very low concentration were introduced to the electrolyte. It was discovered that the electrooxidation of formic acid could be promoted greatly by addition of trace amount of vanadium ions. A much greater enhancement in catalytic stability (3.19 times) was observed when compared to the improvement in catalytic activity (1.57 times), indicating the effective protection of Pd from deactivation by addition of vanadium ions into the electrolyte. The improvement in the catalytic performances may be attributed to the facilitating of formic acid elelctrooxidation due to the existence of VO 2+ /V 3+ redox pair and the ensemble effect induced by the adsorption of vanadium ions onto the surface of Pd.