Ultralow loading FeCoNi alloy nanoparticles decorated carbon mat for hydrogen peroxide reduction reaction and its application in direct ethylene glycol fuel cells
Zhefei Pan
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
Search for more papers by this authorZhewei Zhang
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
Search for more papers by this authorAbdullah Tahir
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
Search for more papers by this authorOladapo Christopher Esan
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Xinhua Liu
School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China
Correspondence
Xinhua Liu, School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Kejiyuan Road, Haidian, Beijing 100083, China.
Email: [email protected]
Huizhi Wang, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
Email: [email protected]
Liang An, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Huizhi Wang
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK
Correspondence
Xinhua Liu, School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Kejiyuan Road, Haidian, Beijing 100083, China.
Email: [email protected]
Huizhi Wang, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
Email: [email protected]
Liang An, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Liang An
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
Correspondence
Xinhua Liu, School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Kejiyuan Road, Haidian, Beijing 100083, China.
Email: [email protected]
Huizhi Wang, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
Email: [email protected]
Liang An, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorZhefei Pan
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
Search for more papers by this authorZhewei Zhang
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
Search for more papers by this authorAbdullah Tahir
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
Search for more papers by this authorOladapo Christopher Esan
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Xinhua Liu
School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China
Correspondence
Xinhua Liu, School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Kejiyuan Road, Haidian, Beijing 100083, China.
Email: [email protected]
Huizhi Wang, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
Email: [email protected]
Liang An, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Huizhi Wang
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK
Correspondence
Xinhua Liu, School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Kejiyuan Road, Haidian, Beijing 100083, China.
Email: [email protected]
Huizhi Wang, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
Email: [email protected]
Liang An, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Liang An
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
Correspondence
Xinhua Liu, School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Kejiyuan Road, Haidian, Beijing 100083, China.
Email: [email protected]
Huizhi Wang, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
Email: [email protected]
Liang An, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorFunding information: National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award Number: 52022003
Summary
Hydrogen peroxide has been an attractive oxidant in direct liquid fuel cells. However, hydrogen peroxide reduction reaction heavily relies on noble metal-based electrocatalysts. In this work, a carbon mat decorated with FeCoNi alloy nanoparticles (namely FeCoNi/CM) of an ultralow loading, that is, 0.146 mg cm−2, for hydrogen peroxide reduction is designed, fabricated, and applied as a free-standing cathode in a passive alkaline-acid direct ethylene glycol fuel cell. A piece of Pd/C coated carbon cloth (1.0 mg cm−2) is used as the anode and a pre-treated Nafion 211 membrane as the membrane. This passive fuel cell yields a peak power density of 17.4 mW cm−2 at 23°C, which is comparable to an Au/C-based cathode (17.0 mW cm−2). The new electrode shows significantly enhanced mass transfer and allows a current density of 60.0 mA cm−2, which is 1.5 times the value achieved with the Au/C-based cathode. This can be attributed to the much thinner thickness of FeCoNi/CM (50.0 μm) than Au/C-based cathode (380.0 μm). With the thinner thickness, the oxygen derived from the self-decomposition of hydrogen peroxide can be effectively removed from the cathode, which is beneficial for the transport of hydrogen peroxide to the catalyst surface. Moreover, with the use of this free-standing cathode, the passive fuel cell attains a continuous operation at a constant discharging current of 20.0 mA for more than 9 h, exceeding the 5 h achieved with the Au/C-based cathode at the same discharging current density.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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