direct borohydride fuel cell without mea: a new electrocatalyst of mix metal oxide as a cathode and ni-co/rgo/nf as an anode

Abstract: direct fuel cells (dfcs) are well-known as a clean and efficient energy production technology, and are an interest category of renewable and sustainable energy conversion devices that combine the advantages of combustion engines and batteries, while eliminating their major drawbacks. nabh4 has benefits such as high theoretical specific capacity (5.7 ah g−1), easy transportation, and high theoretical open-cell voltage (ocv) (1.64 v), high hydrogen content (weight content of 10.6%) and massively was produced from trimethyl borate and borax [1]. one of the major challenges in liquid fuel cells is the provision of membrane electrode assembly (mea) electrocatalysts. in the present study, an attempt is made to make a fuel cell with liquid borohydride fuel without immobilizing catalytic inks on the nafion. bimetallic ni-co nanoparticles on rgo/nf are fabricated by electrodeposition to be used as anode electrocatalysts for direct borohydride-hydrogen peroxide fuel cells (dbhpfcs) [2]. the physical characterization of synthesized material is investigated using fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, and x-ray diffraction. the electrochemical half-cell tests are used to study their electrocatalytic properties toward borohydride oxidation in an alkaline solution. a single fuel cell of direct borohydride–hydrogen peroxide is assembled using mixture of metal oxides (mmo) as a cathode and ni-co/ rgo/nf as an anode. the cell performance was studied at different operation conditions. maximum power density value of 336.53 mw cm–2 at 55 °c was obtained for ni50-co50 /rgo/nf. the power efficiency of dbhpfcs in this study with commercial liquid fuel cells is comparable to that of catalytic inks immobilized on nafion; instead, the cathode and anode preparation methods are so convenient and accessible that a nafion without any preparation can be used multiple times. the construction of this type of cells without the use of catalytic inks on nafion has been done for the first time by the electrochemical research team of energy production and storage systems of the faculty of chemistry, university of tabriz.