ISSN 2456-0235

International Journal of Modern Science and Technology

INDEXED IN 

​International Journal of Modern Science and Technology, 1(7), 2016, Pages 257-263. 


Promoting Effect of Third Metal (M = Ni, Mo and Rh) on Pd–Ir Binary Alloy Catalysts in Membraneless Sodium Perborate Fuel Cells 

K. Vijayaramalingam1, S. Kiruthika2, B. Muthukumaran1
1 Department of Chemistry, Presidency College, Chennai – 600 005, India.

2 Department of Chemical Engineering, SRM University, Chennai – 603 203, India.

Abstract
The fabrication, characterization and performance of Pd–Ir–M (M = Ni, Mo and Rh) electrocatalysts supported on carbon leading to enhancement of the electrocatalytic oxidation of sodium perborate is presented. The combination of monometallic Pd/C, bimetallic Pd–Ir/C and tri-metallic Pd–Ir–Ni/C, Pd–Ir–Mo/C and Pd–Ir–Rh/C electrocatalysts were prepared by the ultrasonic-assisted chemical reduction method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy (EDX) and X-Ray diffraction (XRD) were used for the catalyst characterization. The prepared catalysts had similar particle morphology and their particle sizes were 3-5 nm. The EDX results of the binary Pd–Ir/C and the ternary Pd–Ir–Ni/C, Pd–Ir–Mo/C and Pd–Ir–Rh/C catalysts were extremely close to the nominal values, indicating that the metals were loaded onto the carbon support without any obvious loss. The electrocatalytic activities of the catalysts were investigated in half-cell experiments using cyclic voltammetry (CV), CO stripping voltammetry and chronoamperometry (CA). The electrochemical results obtained at room temperature showed that the tri-metallic Pd–Ir–M (M = Ni, Mo and Rh) electrocatalysts displayed better catalytic activity toward sodium perborate oxidation compared to the other catalysts.  In this study, the carbon-supported binary Pd−Ir/C and ternary Pd−Ir−M/C (M = Ni, Mo and Rh) anode catalysts were successfully tested in a single membraneless fuel cell using 0.15 M sodium perborate as the fuel and 0.1 M sodium perborate as the oxidant with 0.5 M H2SO4 as the electrolyte respectively. Based on the experimental results, we conclude that the Pd−Ir−Ni/C demonstrates superior sodium perborate electro-oxidation than Pd−Ir−Mo/C, Pd−Ir−Rh/C, Pd−Ir/C and Pd/C.

​​Keywords: Electrocatalysts; Fabrication; Characterization; Ultrasonication; Membraneless fuel cell. 

​References

  1. Bagchi J, Bhattacharya SK. Properties of anodic RuNiOx (OH)y catalysts synthesized on carbon supports with various dispersion degree. Trans Metal Chemistry 32 (2007) 47-55.
  2. Priya M, Elumalai M, Kiruthika S,  Muthukumaran B. Influences of supporting materials for Pt-Ru binary catalyst in ethanol fuel cell. International Journal of Modern Science and Technology 1 (2016) 5-11.
  3. He Q, Chen W, Chen S, Laufek F, Mukerjee S. Carbon-supported PdM (M= Au and Sn) nanocatalysts for the electrooxidation of ethanol in high pH media. J Power Sources 187 (2009) 298-304.
  4. Jingrong Yu, Ping Cheng, Zhiqi Ma, Baolian Yi. Fabrication of miniature silicon wafer fuel cells with improved performance. J Power Sources 124 (2003) 40-46.
  5. Ksar F, Ramos L, Keita B, Nadjo L, Beaunier P, Remita H. Bimetallic palladium-gold nanostructures: application in ethanol oxidation. Chem Mater 21 (2009) 36773683.
  6. Li X, Huang Q, Zou Z, Xia B, Yang H. Low temperature preparation of carbon-supported Pd Co alloy electrocatalysts for methanol-tolerant oxygen reduction reaction Electrochim Acta 52 (2008) 6662--6667.
  7. Liao S, Holmes KA, Tsaprailis H, Birss VI. High performance PtRuIr catalysts supported on carbon nanotubes for the anodic oxidation of methanol. J Am Chem Soc 128 (2006) 3504-3505.
  8. Qiu CC, Shang R, Xie YF, Bu YR, Li CY, Ma HY. Electrocatalytic activity of bimetallic Pd–Ni thin films towards the oxidation of methanol and ethanol. Mater Chem Phys 120 (2010) 323-330.
  9. Sanchez GR, Madeira HY, Feria OS. PdNi electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction in acid media. Int J Hydrogen Energy 33 (2008) 3596-3600.
  10. Sarkar A, Murugan AV, Manthiram A. Synthesis and characterization of nanostructured Pd− Mo electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cells, J Phys Chem C 112 (2008) 12037-12043.
  11. Shao MH, Sasaki K, Adzic RR. Pd-Fe nanoparticles as electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction. J Am Chem Soc 128 (2006) 3526-3527.
  12. Stamenkovic V, Moon BS, Mayerhofer KJ, Ross PN, Markovic N, Rossmeisl J, Greeley J, Norskov JK. Changing the activity of electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction by tuning the surface electronic structure. Angew Chem Int Ed 45 (2006) 2897-2901.
  13. Wang YH, Chen TH. A high dispersed Pt0.35 Pd0.35 Co0.30/C as superior catalyst for methanol and formic acid electro-oxidation. Chin Chem Letters 25 (2014) 907-911.
  14. Xu JB, Zhao TS, Shen SY, Li YS. Stabilization of the palladium electrocatalyst with alloyed gold for ethanol oxidation. Int J Hydrogen Energy 35 (2010) 6490-6500.
  15. Zhu LD, Zhao TS, Xu JB, Liang ZX. Preparation and characterization of carbon-supported sub-monolayer palladium decorated gold nanoparticles for the electro-oxidation of ethanol in alkaline media. J Power Sources 187 (2009) 80-84.