Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
192270 Electrochimica Acta 2008 7 Pages PDF
Abstract

We report the mass transport characteristics of formic acid and performance enhancement in a direct formic acid fuel cell in terms of the property of anode components. The effect of hydrophobicity of anode diffusion media as well as catalyst layer was investigated applying different cell temperature and fuel concentration. The operation over 80 °C and concentrated formic acid is of great advantage to the enhancement of catalytic activity and better water management. On the other hand, the conductivity of formic acid decreases by means of the formation of more complex chains of formic acid and the fuel cell resistance increases by membrane dehydration effect due to the hygroscopic property of formic acid, resulting in overall decrease of cell performance and long-term stability. Optimizing operating conditions, the use of 60% PtRu/C with only 1 mg/cm2 on plain carbon paper can be one of the good choice to achieve both sustainable power performance and higher utilization of anode catalysts keeping cell resistance.

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Chemical Engineering Chemical Engineering (General)
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