The studies of performance of the Au electrode modified by Zn as the anode electrocatalyst of direct borohydride fuel cell

✍ Scribed by Peiying He; Xianyou Wang; Pei Fu; Hong Wang; Lanhua Yi

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 957 KB
• Volume: 36
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0360-3199
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2011.04.128

✦ Synopsis

Direct borohydride fuel cell Au (1Àx) Zn x bimetallic Anode electrocatalyst Stability Borohydride oxidation a b s t r a c t The carbon supported Au-base electrocatalysts (Au (1Àx) Zn x /C, 0 x < 1) modified by Zn were synthesized by reverse microemulsion method and employed as anode electrocatalysts of direct borohydride fuel cell (DBFC). The physical and electrochemical properties were investigated by energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronopotentiometry and fuel cell test. The results showed that the morphologies of Au (1Àx) Zn x nanoparticles all were uniformly spherical no matter what Zn content changed, and the average particle size of Au (1Àx) Zn x bimetallics varied from 3 to 6 nm. The electrochemical measurements revealed that the Au (1Àx) Zn x /C electrocatalysts showed no activity toward the NaBH 4 hydrolysis reaction and obviously improved the catalytic activity of borohydride oxidation.

Compared with Au/C anode electrocatalyst, the stability of DBFC using the Au 0.65 Zn 0.35 /C as anode electrocatalyst was apparently improved, and the maximum power density of 39.5 mW cm À2 was obtained at 20 C.