Alloy catalysts for direct ethanol PEM fuel cell operation at high temperature

Direct ethanol fuel cells have the potential to be a clean energy source, which, unlike hydrogen/oxygen fuel cells, have the advantage that the fuel is liquid, inexpensive, and readily available from bio-mass. From a chemical stand point, ethanol has a much greater energy density than hydrogen, but is similar to that of gasoline, which proves its ability as a portable fuel for transportation purposes. Direct ethanol fuel cells have the disadvantage of low current densities, slowing their appearance in the literature. The reason for the poor current density is that present catalysts in fuel cells, i.e., Pt particles, are incapable of catalyzing the complete oxidation of ethanol at 80°C. At higher temperatures and on alloyed catalysts, the process of ethanol oxidation becomes more feasible. Various catalysts were studied at 120°-150°C, including, but not limited to, Pt/Sn, Pt/Ru, and Pt. The efficacy of these catalysts for the oxidation of ethanol in a high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell was presented. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 228th ACS National Meeting (Philadelphia, PA, 8/22-26/2004).