Activation of Carbon Porous Paper for Alkaline Alcoholic Fuel Cells

In this study, various treatment methods to increase the reactivity of carbon porous electrodes for alkaline alcoholic fuel cells were investigated with commercially available carbon papers to understand the characteristic electrochemical behaviors of the treated carbon electrodes and to find the best method to enhance the cell performance. Effects of thermal treatment, potassium hydroxide (KOH) treatment, N2 doping, and reaction-area control via a multi-layered structure were compared in the cell-based tests, and a huge improvement in the cell performance (i.e., 64% increase of open circuit voltage (OCV) and 320% increase of max power density) was found from the thermal-treated four-layered carbon porous electrode. The results were compared with those from platinum on carbon (Pt/C)-based cells, and a discussion on the direction of research in the future was conducted. The results of this study are expected to provide key guidelines for alcoholic fuel cell (AFC) developers to develop cost-effective AFC with a carbon electrode.

[1]  T. Zawodzinski,et al.  High performance electrodes in vanadium redox flow batteries through oxygen-enriched thermal activation , 2015 .

[2]  Maria Skyllas-Kazacos,et al.  Modification of graphite electrode materials for vanadium redox flow battery application—I. Thermal treatment , 1992 .

[3]  T. Ohsaka,et al.  Hydrodynamic voltammetric studies of the oxygen reduction at gold nanoparticles-electrodeposited gold electrodes , 2002 .

[4]  K. Nanda,et al.  Excellent performance of Pt-free cathode in alkaline direct methanol fuel cell at room temperature , 2013 .

[5]  Qinghua Liu,et al.  High Performance Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries with Optimized Electrode Configuration and Membrane Selection , 2012 .

[6]  Venkat Srinivasan,et al.  Optimization and Analysis of High‐Power Hydrogen/Bromine‐Flow Batteries for Grid‐Scale Energy Storage , 2013 .

[7]  Robert F. Savinell,et al.  Heat-treated iron(III) tetramethoxyphenyl porphyrin chloride supported on high-area carbon as an electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction:: Part III. Detection of hydrogen-peroxide during oxygen reduction , 1999 .

[8]  A. Manthiram,et al.  Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanotube/Graphite Felts as Advanced Electrode Materials for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries. , 2012, The journal of physical chemistry letters.

[9]  G. Cao,et al.  Design and Tailoring of a Three-Dimensional TiO2–Graphene–Carbon Nanotube Nanocomposite for Fast Lithium Storage , 2011 .

[10]  V. M. Barragán,et al.  A comparative study of the electro-osmotic behavior of cation and anion exchange membranes in alcohol-water media , 2015 .

[11]  Xiaowei Li,et al.  Low temperature preparation of carbon-supported PdCo alloy electrocatalysts for methanol-tolerant oxygen reduction reaction , 2008 .

[12]  Sang‐young Lee,et al.  Boosting the oxygen reduction activity of a nano-graphene catalyst by charge redistribution at the graphene-metal interface. , 2019, Nanoscale.

[13]  Lei Zhang,et al.  A novel methanol-tolerant Ir-Se chalcogenide electrocatalyst for oyxgen reduction , 2007 .

[14]  Maria Skyllas-Kazacos,et al.  Chemical modification of graphite electrode materials for vanadium redox flow battery application—part II. Acid treatments , 1992 .

[15]  J. Zagal,et al.  Electroreduction of oxygen in alkaline solution on iron phthalocyanine modified carbide-derived carbons , 2019, Electrochimica Acta.

[16]  Performance and cycling of the iron-ion/hydrogen redox flow cell with various catholyte salts , 2013, Journal of Applied Electrochemistry.

[17]  W. Sugimoto,et al.  Oxygen reduction behavior of rutile-type iridium oxide in sulfuric acid solution , 2008 .

[18]  Changpeng Liu,et al.  Pd nanoparticles supported on WO3/C hybrid material as catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction , 2008 .

[19]  H. Gasteiger,et al.  Comparative study between platinum supported on carbon and non-noble metal cathode catalyst in alkaline direct ethanol fuel cell (ADEFC) , 2011 .

[20]  D. Zhao,et al.  A comprehensive study on KOH activation of ordered mesoporous carbons and their supercapacitor application , 2012 .

[21]  Siti Kartom Kamarudin,et al.  An overview on non-platinum cathode catalysts for direct methanol fuel cell , 2013 .

[22]  Suli Wang,et al.  KOH modified Nafion112 membrane for high performance alkaline direct ethanol fuel cell , 2011 .

[23]  Membrane-Less Hydrogen Iron Redox Flow Battery , 2018, Journal of Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage.

[24]  Liang An,et al.  Carbon-neutral sustainable energy technology: Direct ethanol fuel cells , 2015 .

[25]  S. Tanaka,et al.  KOH activation of ordered mesoporous carbons prepared by a soft-templating method and their enhanced electrochemical properties , 2010 .

[26]  R. Savinell,et al.  Heat-treated iron(III) tetramethoxyphenyl porphyrin chloride supported on high-area carbon as an electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction: Part II. Kinetics of oxygen reduction , 1999 .

[27]  Huamin Zhang,et al.  Preparation, characterization of ZrOxNy/C and its application in PEMFC as an electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction , 2007 .

[28]  Venkat Srinivasan,et al.  High Performance Hydrogen/Bromine Redox Flow Battery for Grid-Scale Energy Storage , 2012 .

[29]  K. Jurewicz,et al.  KOH activated carbon fabrics as supercapacitor material , 2004 .

[30]  Hansung Kim,et al.  Graphite Felt Coated with Dopamine-Derived Nitrogen-Doped Carbon as a Positive Electrode for a Vanadium Redox Flow Battery , 2015 .

[31]  Qinghua Liu,et al.  Dramatic performance gains in vanadium redox flow batteries through modified cell architecture , 2012 .

[32]  G. Ramos-Sánchez,et al.  Electrochemical analysis of the kinetics and mechanism of the oxygen reduction reaction on Au nanoparticles , 2010 .

[33]  Qin Xin,et al.  Zirconium phosphate/Nafion115 composite membrane for high-concentration DMFC , 2008 .

[34]  R. Kannan,et al.  Artificially designed membranes using phosphonated multiwall carbon nanotube-polybenzimidazole composites for polymer electrolyte fuel cells , 2010 .