Improved performance of self-reactivated Pt-ThO2/C catalysts in a direct ethanol fuel cell

Yubing Xue; Dashu Pan; Feng Zuo; Songtao Xiao; Xiang Li; Fuyan Lou; Mingming Li; Yinggen Ouyang

doi:10.1039/d2ra02398a

Improved performance of self-reactivated Pt-ThO₂/C catalysts in a direct ethanol fuel cell

RSC Adv. 2022 Jun 7;12(27):17012-17019. doi: 10.1039/d2ra02398a.

Authors

Yubing Xue¹, Dashu Pan¹, Feng Zuo², Songtao Xiao¹, Xiang Li¹, Fuyan Lou¹, Mingming Li¹, Yinggen Ouyang¹

Affiliations

¹ China Institute of Atomic Energy Beijing 102413 China yubing_xue@163.com.
² School of Nuclear Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University Xi'an 710049 China.

Abstract

A novel self-reactivated catalyst Pt-ThO₂/C was prepared for the first time by selecting radioactive material ThO₂ as the catalytic additive to address the low activity and toxicity of the anode Pt/C catalyst in a direct ethanol fuel cell. The catalytic activity and resistance to CO poisoning of Pt-6.67 wt%ThO₂/C were found to be superior to those of Pt/C-NaBH₄ in electrochemical workstation and single-cell tests. It is speculated that the exist of ThO₂ not only improves the catalytic activity via the synergistic effect of Pt and Th, but also produces a large amount of radiolysis products, OH radicals, due to ²³²Th which oxidatively desorbs CO from Pt-CO_ads and solves the CO poisoning problem.