Simultaneous production of electricity and hydrogen from methanol solution with a new electrochemical technology

Abstract

It is known that the reaction from methanol to hydrogen has a positive Gibbs free energy and therefore cannot occur spontaneously. In the present work, by utilizing the chemical energy of neutralization, a new electrochemical technology was developed to produce hydrogen and electricity from methanol solution simultaneously, without needing external energy input. In our designed electrochemical cell, hydrogen can be produced on cathode while methanol can be oxidized on anode with additional electricity production. The effect of anode surface area on hydrogen production rate and power output was also investigated. With anode apparent surface area of 6.15 cm2, initial hydrogen production rate can reach up to 1.07 m3 H2 m−3 d−1 and the maximum power density output of 1.26 W m−2 can be achieved, at the same time. Although it is only a preliminary work, our work is supposed to provide a new approach for the on-board hydrogen production for the application of various fuel cell technologies, which is urgently needed nowadays.