Multimetallic Nanocatalysts for Anodic Reaction in Direct Alcohol Fuel Cell

Abstract

The hydrogen fueled proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEM-FCs) have unique characteristics of high energy and zero emission.However, in the 21st century it has been a growing perceptionthat electricity generation by H2-O2 fuel cell primarily dependson the concept of “Hydrogen Economy.” On the other hand,aliphatic alcohols like methanol, ethanol, propanol, and butanolare characterized by their octane rating and are identified asthe future choices for reducing oil imports. Among these, therehas been a great deal of interest in the development of directethanol fuel cell (DEFC) technology operating on bioethanol as therenewable source that can easily be produced, on a large scale,from agricultural and municipal wastes. In fact, use of ethanolreduces carbon dioxide emission by an average of 34%, comparedto gasoline. The main prerequisite of the liquid fuel for PEMFCapplication is an appreciably high electrochemical reactivity atrelatively low temperature, which can be routed through judiciouschoice of stringent catalysts for alcohol oxidation as well as theoxygen reduction reaction. In the present chapter, a comprehensivediscussion has beenmade on the state-of-the-art catalyst technologyfor anodic oxidation of alcohol and ethanol, in particular, for lowtemperature fuel cell application. In DEFC, the catalysts designedwith multimetallic framework have shown improved functionalproperties resulting from the combinatorial effect of M-M inter-atomic distance, number of nearest neighboring metal atoms, dband vacancy, size, dispersion, and metal content on the surface. Agreat deal of interest has arisen in the DEFCs’ working in alkalineenvironment, which allows the use of inexpensive non-platinummetal as well as the transitional metals and metal oxides as criticalelectrode components harnessingmore energy and at the same timeensuring affordability of the fuel cell system.