Investigation of ethanol fuel electrooxidation reaction on Ni-CeO2NRs anode electrocatalyst in alkaline media

Abstract

In this study, Ni-CeO 2NR anode electrocatalysts were synthesized for EOR in alkaline media. Physicochemical and electrochemical characterizations of the catalysts were made • Ni-CeO 2NRs electrocatalysts were synthesized for EOR in alkaline media at various weight ratios. • Physicochemical characterizations of the Ni-CeO 2NRs electrocatalysts were investigated by XRD, SEM, EDS, EDAX, XPS, and TEM analysis. • CV, LSV, and CA tests were conducted to investigate the electrochemical performance of the Ni-CeO 2NRs electrocatalysts. • Ni-CeO 2NRs -2 showed better EOR performance among the synthesized electrocatalysts. One of the most promising, non-toxic, and economical alternative fuels is ethanol and ethanol electrooxidation reaction (EOR) must be completed efficiently to generate energy from ethanol. However, this clean alternative fuel cannot be used commercially because of the slow kinetics of the EOR. In this study, Ni cocatalyzed with CeO 2 nanorods (Ni-CeO 2NRs ) at different weight ratios was synthesized via modified polyol method as a transition metal-based efficient anode electrocatalyst for EOR. Morphological characterizations of the synthesized electrocatalysts were made by XRD, SEM, EDAX, TEM, and XPS analysis and the results were indicated that the catalysts were synthesized successfully. Electrochemical characterizations of the catalysts were investigated by Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), Linear Sweep Voltammetry (LSV), and Chronoamperometry (CA) techniques. CV tests exhibited that Ni-CeO 2-NRs -2 electrocatalyst displayed the highest current density (14.02 mA cm -2 ) among the synthesized catalysts and according to CA experiments, addition of CeO 2 NRs improved the catalytic stability by increasing synergistic effect.