Performance of Liquid Fuels in a Platinum-Ruthenium-Catalysed Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell
Crossover and performance of different 1 M low molecular weight organic fuels with a platinum-ruthenium (60:40) catalyst in a unit fuel cell were studied at different temperatures. Large, negatively charged or complicated molecules were found to have the lowest crossover rates through
the Nafion
®
115 membrane, and methanol had the highest permeability at all temperatures. The smallest molecule, formic acid, dissociates in water, resulting in a less severe crossover problem. In a PtRu-catalysed fuel cell, compounds with only one carbon atom exhibit
superior performance compared to molecules having a carbon chain; with methanol and formaldehyde producing power densities up to five times higher than those achieved with molecules having a longer carbon chain. However, it should be noted that PtRu does not catalyse the breaking of the C‐C
bond; therefore, larger molecules can only be oxidised to derivative products. However, larger organic molecules show a lower rate of crossover through the Nafion
®
membrane, which enables more concentrated solutions to be used to decrease the volume of the fuel. With
the addition of a third metal to the PtRu-based catalyst, higher molecular weight molecules are good candidates for energy sources in a fuel cell.
Document Type: Research Article
Publication date: 01 April 2009
Johnson Matthey's journal of research on the platinum group metals and developments in their application in industry from 1957-2014. It has now been renamed the Johnson Matthey Technology Review
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