Electrooxidation reactions of methanol and ethanol on Pt–MoO3 for dual fuel cell applications

Abstract

Pt–MoO3 was synthesized by microwave-assisted chemical reduction. The physicochemical characterization showed that the electrocatalyst contained nanoparticles of Pt and clusters of MoO3. The average particle size of the catalytic material was 2.5 nm. The electrochemical results showed that the Pt–MoO3/C was suitable to carry out the electrooxidation reactions of ethanol and methanol indistinctly, avoiding CO poisoning. It was possible to compare the results with commercial Pt/C. The synthesized material showed a better electrochemical performance. Different simulations were performed using the Nernst equation to evaluate the influence of temperature, internal resistance, and the current density losses as a function of the fuel used. The theoretical results indicated that the electrical power of the mono-cell improves by 21.5% when the energy vector is changed from methanol to ethanol at the maximum power point, obtaining an electrical potential change ΔE = 87.02 mV and a variation of the electric power of Δp = 114.14 mW cm−2. The use of dual fuels could improve the performance of experimental fuel cells.