Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Ethanol on Nanoporous Ni Electrode in Alkaline Media

Abstract

Recently, alkaline fuel cell system has been enhancing their presence because of increased possibility of platinum group metal (PGM)-free catalysts and low overpotentials at cathode reaction furthermore [1-4]. Several studies have been carried out on the ethanol oxidation in alkaline media due to a possible use of this alcohol as a fuel in alkaline fuel cells [58] because ethanol is not only the most environmentally friendly liquid fuel but also can offer many of advantages in terms of mass production from agricultural products as well as fermentation of biomass. Moreover, ethanol is considered to have the highest specific energy density among the applicable liquid fuels since it is a light molecule involving as many as 12 electrons in the reaction [9]. However, for commercialization aspects of ethanol fuel cells, one of the big technical challenges is to reduce the material cost, mostly Pt-based precious metal electrocatalysts.