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Showing papers on "Direct methanol fuel cell published in 1993"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the direct electrooxidation of methanol in acid medium was studied on electrodes made of a perfluorinated membrane with small amounts of metal catalysts incorporated by chemical reduction.
Abstract: The direct electrooxidation of methanol in acid medium was studied on electrodes made of a perfluorinated membrane with small amounts of metal catalysts incorporated by chemical reduction. Platinum is a good electrocatalyst for this reaction, but needs to be modified by other metals in order to obtain oxidation potentials much more compatible with a working anode in a direct methanol fuel cell. Ruthenium and tin appear to give encouraging results, leading to a negative shift of more than 250 mV as compared to the potential obtained with pure platinum. Other parameters were investigated in this work, such as the working temperature, and the manner of introduction of the methanol into the cell. By gaseous supply, it was possible to carry out measurements at higher temperatures than with methanol in solution, and consequently to greatly improve the performance of the catalytic electrode.

57 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: In this article, the synthesis and characterization of carbon-supported PtRu nanoparticles were carried out by impregnation and colloidal methods and products were compared with commercial carbon supported PtRu.
Abstract: The synthesis and characterization of carbon-supported PtRu nanoparticles were carried out by impregnation and colloidal methods and products were compared with commercial carbon-supported PtRu. To confirm the characteristics of the synthesized PtRu nanoparticles, TEM (and EDX), XRD, and electrochemical analysis were performed to evaluate alloy formation, surface structure, chemical composition of the nanoparticles, and the electrocatalytic activity for methanol oxidation. The impregnation method was relatively easy and straightforward but the average particle size was in excess of 3 nm and the size distribution was broad. However, colloidal methods involved more complicated procedures and required a heat treatment to increase activity, resulting in an average particle size of up to 2.2 - 2.3 mn. The heating conditions used, to achieve a higher catalytic activity, were investigated. A simpler nanoparticle synthetic method that results in a small particle size and high activity without a heat treatment would be desirable.

1 citations