The Mechanism of Direct Formic Acid Fuel Cell Using Pd, Pt and Pt-Ru

Abstract

The electro-oxidation of formic acid, 2-propanol and methanol on Pd black, Pd/C, Pt-Ru/C and Pt/C has been investigated to clear the reaction mechanism. It was suggested that the formic acid is dehydrogenated on Pd surface and the hydrogen is occluded in the Pd lattice. Thus obtained hydrogen acts like pure hydrogen supplied from the outside and the cell performance of the direct formic acid fuel cell showed as high as that of a hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell. 2-propanol did not show such dehydrogenation reaction on Pd catalyst. Platinum and Pt-Ru accelerated the oxidation of C-OH of 2-propanol and methanol.Slow scan voltammogram (SSV) and chronoamperometry measurements showed that the activity of formic acid oxidation increased in the following order: Pd black > Pd 30wt.%/C > Pt50wt.%/C > 27wt.%Pt-13wt.%Ru/C. A large oxidation current for formic acid was found at a low overpotential on the palladium electrocatalysts. These results indicate that formic acid is mainly oxidized through a dehydrogenation reaction. For the oxidation of 2-propanol and methanol, palladium was not effective, and 27wt.%Pt-13wt.%Ru/C showed the best oxidation activity.