Methanol electrooxidation activity of binary CoAg electrocatalyst

Abstract

As the energy demand and diversity increases human beings need new energy sources or energy converters. Among energy convertion technologies, direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) have attracted much attention due to their uniqe advantages. But, high-efficiency and CO poisoning are still the main drawbacks of these systems. In this study, binary CoAg electrocatalyst was fabricated on a carbon felt (C-felt) as promising anode material for DMFCs. Electrocatalytic performance of the binary catalyst for methanol electro-oxidation reaction was studied in 0.1 M KOH solution containing 1 M methanol using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry (CA) techniques. Time-stability and CO poisoning tolerance of the catalyst were examined with CA technique. The electrocatalysts were characterized using SEM, EDX and XRD techniques. The data of binary eletrocatalysts were compared with the un-coated C-felt and Co-modified C-felt as reference points. It was found that the CoAg binary electrocatalyst has quite good electro-catalytic activity for the methanol electrooxidation reaction. The high-electrocatalytical activity was related to large real surface area, high intrinsic activity of Co and Ag as well as possible synergistic affect between the metals.