Highly active Rare Earth (RE) Vanadate, Tungstate loaded ZnO (RE= Gd, Dy and Ho) Nanocomposites for Electrochemical methanol Oxidation-A Comparative study for Fuel cell Application

Abstract

Fuel cell converts chemical energy into electrical energy with negligible generation of pollutant. Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) are used as power source for electronic devices as its mass energy can be easily functionalized to these devices. We fabricated rare earth (RE= Gd, Dy and Ho) vanadate and tungstate supported ZnO nanomaterials hydrothermally and analysed their Electrocatalytic efficiency in methanol oxidation. It is noticeable that the current density of the prepared catalyst (GdVO4–ZnO: 3.42mA), (DyVO4–ZnO: 4.64mA), (HoVO4–ZnO: 3.30mA), (Gd2WO6–ZnO: 2.92mA), (Dy2WO6–ZnO: 2.64mA) and (Ho2WO6–ZnO: 2.90mA) is much higher than that of prepared ZnO (1.32 mA). Chronoamperometric curves indicate stability and poison tolerance of the prepared catalysts are much higher than prepared ZnO for methanol oxidation under alkaline medium.