Abstract
In the present study, three different structures with preferentially exposed crystal faces were supported on commercial carbon black by the polyol method (nanoparticles (NP/C), nanobars (NB/C) and nanorods (NR/C)). The electrocatalysts were characterized by XRD, TEM, TGA and cyclic voltammetry at three different ethanol concentrations. Considerable differences were found in terms of catalytic electroactivity. At all ethanol concentrations, the trend observed for the ethanol oxidation peak potential was preserved as follows: NB/C < NP/C< NR/C < commercial Pd/C. This result indicates that, from a thermodynamics point of view, the NB/C catalyst enclosed by Pd(100) facets presented the highest activity with respect to ethanol electro-oxidation among all of the catalysts studied.
Highlights
World energy production is dominated by fossil fuels
The results show, for the first time, that the activity and selectivity of ethanol oxidation on Pd are highly structure-sensitive and prove that Pd(100) is the best surface for the dissociation of an ethanol molecule, with a rather low energy barrier [13]
From the point of view of preferential orientations, the results shows that the NB/C catalyst presented the highest activity of all of the catalysts studied, which is consistent with the previously mentioned Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculus
Summary
World energy production is dominated by fossil fuels. growing concerns regarding the depletion of petroleum-based energy resources, environmental contamination, and the increase in fuel prices due to limited oil reserves have motivated intensive research to substitute renewable energy sources for fossil fuels [1]. An alternative way of producing energy from ethanol has recently been proposed. This consists of using a Direct Ethanol Fuel Cell (DEFC) to perform the Ethanol Electro-oxidation Reaction (EOR) directly over an anodic electrocatalyst. The problem with using ethanol as a fuel is that the EOR is difficult to induce and occurs at slower rates compared to modern electrocatalysts. This typically leads to the incomplete oxidation of ethanol, which reduces the efficiency of fuel cells and can lead to the creation of by-products or electrode deactivation [6]
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