Carbon-supported IrSn catalysts for a direct ethanol fuel cell

Carbon-supported Ir3Sn/C and Ir/C catalysts were simply prepared with NaBH4 as a reducing agent under the protection of ethylene glycol at room temperature. TEM and X-ray diffraction (XRD) data showed that the catalysts with small particle size exhibited the typical characteristic of a crystalline Ir fcc structure. Their electro-catalytic activities in comparison with Pt/C and Pt3Sn/C catalysts also prepared by the NaBH4 reduction process were characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV), linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and chronoamperometry (CA) techniques. The results indicated that Ir-based catalysts showed superior electro-catalytic activity towards ethanol oxidation to Pt/C and Pt3Sn/C catalysts, mainly at low potential region. During single-cell tests at 90 °C, better performances of Ir-based catalysts as anodes were obtained compared to that of Pt/C catalyst. The comparable overall performance of Ir3Sn/C to Pt3Sn/C makes it a promising alternative choice of anode catalyst for direct ethanol fuel cells.