Ethanol electro-oxidation on Pt/CNFs-GNPs/GDL electrode for fuel cell application

Abstract

Among direct alcohol fuel cells, the ethanol fuel cell is considered the most acceptable in terms of safety and power density. In this research, a Pt/CNFs-GNPs /GDL electrode was developed using GNPs and CNFs as a supporting medium on carbon paper and the electrodeposition method to deposit Pt catalyst. The morphology and structure features of the prepared film samples were characterized by FESEM and XRD. Pt particles of about 6.53 nm were uniformly deposited on the porous support. Catalytic activities of the prepared electrode for the ethanol oxidation reaction were evaluated through cyclic voltammetry measurements. Based on the electrochemical properties, the as-prepared Pt/CNFs-GNPs/GDL electrocatalyst exhibited a comparable activity for ethanol oxidation reaction for the Pt/C, which may be attributed to the high specific surface area of the CNFs support as well as high conductivity of graphene nanoplates. A notable reduction in the onset and peak potential of ethanol electro-oxidation from 0.55 and 0.81V for Pt/C/GDL to 0.50 and 0.79V for Pt/CNFs-GNPs/GDL electrodes, as well as a substantial increment in anodic Tafel slope values from 376 mV to 521 mV, indicates that an increase in the activity for EOR is achieved by replacing C with CNFs-GNPs.