Effect of pH in a Pd-based ethanol membraneless air breathing nanofluidic fuel cell with flow-through electrodes

In this work, a nanofluidic fuel cell (NFC) in which streams flow through electrodes was used to investigate the role of pH in the cell performance using ethanol as fuel and two Pd nanoparticles as electrocatalysts: one commercially available (Pd C from ETEK) and other synthesized using ionic liquid...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of physics. Conference series 2015-12, Vol.660 (1), p.12056
Main Authors: López-Rico, C A, Galindo-de-la-Rosa, J, Ledesma-García, J, Arriaga, L G, Guerra-Balcázar, M, Arjona, N
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Electrocatalysts
Electrodes
Ethanol
Fluidics
Fuel cells
Ionic liquids
Mass transport
Nanofluids
Nanoparticles
Physics
Streams
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Summary:In this work, a nanofluidic fuel cell (NFC) in which streams flow through electrodes was used to investigate the role of pH in the cell performance using ethanol as fuel and two Pd nanoparticles as electrocatalysts: one commercially available (Pd C from ETEK) and other synthesized using ionic liquids (Pd C IL). The cell performances for both electrocatalysts in acid acid (anodic cathodic) streams were of 18.05 and 9.55 mW cm-2 for Pd C ETEK and Pd C IL. In alkaline alkaline streams, decrease to 15.94 mW cm-2 for Pd C ETEK and increase to 15.37 mW cm-2 for Pd C IL. In alkaline acidic streams both electrocatalysts showed similar cell voltages (up to 1 V); meanwhile power densities were of 87.6 and 99.4 mW cm-2 for Pd C ETEK and Pd C IL. The raise in cell performance can be related to a decrease in activation losses, the combined used of alkaline and acidic streams and these high values compared with flow-over fuel cells can be related to the enhancement of the cathodic mass transport by using three dimensional porous electrodes and two sources of oxygen: from air and from a saturated solution.
ISSN:1742-6588
1742-6596
DOI:10.1088/1742-6596/660/1/012056