Premium
Palladized dysprosium fluoride nanorods as a new performance catalyst in direct methanol fuel cell
Author(s) -
Haghnegahdar Sara,
Noroozifar Meissam
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
international journal of energy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.808
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1099-114X
pISSN - 0363-907X
DOI - 10.1002/er.4609
Subject(s) - catalysis , direct methanol fuel cell , cyclic voltammetry , methanol , nanorod , methanol fuel , chronoamperometry , materials science , chemical engineering , carbon nanotube , chemistry , nuclear chemistry , nanotechnology , electrochemistry , anode , electrode , organic chemistry , engineering
Summary Fuel cells are a new type of batteries that produce electricity from a continuous source of alcohols as long as fuel is inserted. In this study, decorated palladium nanoparticles (PdNPs) on dysprosium fluoride (DyF 3 ) nanorods (DyFNRs)‐multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were used for electrooxidation of methanol. DyFNRs were synthesized by the hydrothermal method, and the proposed multifunctional catalyst (DyFNRs/MWCNT‐PdNPs) was identified by several methods such as X‐ray diffraction, elemental mapping images, field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive analysis of X‐rays, and transmission electron microscopy which demonstrated a uniform distribution and high dispersion of the PdNPs on the supports. The electrocatalytic activity toward methanol electrooxidation on glassy carbon electrode (GCE) with DyFNRs/MWCNT‐PdNPs (DyFNRs/MWCNT‐PdNPs/GCE) was investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry (CA). Experimental results showed a high improvement in oxidation potential and peak current of methanol electrooxidation by DyFNRs/MWCNT‐PdNPs in comparison to DyFNRs and PdNPs. The values of the catalytic rate constant ( k ) and physical dimension ( D s ) for methanol oxidation on the DyFNRs/MWCNT‐PdNPs/GCE catalyst were calculated 0.008 s −1 and 1.43, respectively. Moreover, the order of reaction was determined to be 0.43 and 0.13 for CH 3 OH and NaOH, repectively. Finally, the synthesized catalyst was evaluated in direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). The single DMFC with proposed anodic catalyst, DyFNRs/MWCNT‐PdNPs, indicated a power density of 4.4 mW·cm −2 at a current density of 18 mA·cm −2 in alcohol (1 M) and NaOH (1 M).