A New Catalyst for Ethanol Powered Fuel Cells.

1. X18B A New Catalyst for Ethanol Powered Fuel Cells. Kowal (BNL), M. Li, M. Shao (BNL), K. Sasaki(BNL), M.B. Vukmirovic(U. Delaware), J. Zhang (BNL), N.S. Marinkovic, P. Liu (BNL), A.I. Frenkel (Yeshiva Uni.), and R.R. Adzic(BNL) • Hydrogen Fuel Cells convert hydrogen and oxygen to water and as a result produce electricity, however, its storage, production and transport is not easy to achieve. • As an alternative Ethanol Fuel Cells do not have this deficiency, but commercialization of direct ethanol fuel cells has been impeded by ethanol’s slow, inefficient oxidation even with the best electrocatalysts. The authors synthesized a ternary PtRhSnO2/C electrocatalyst by depositing platinum and rhodium atoms on carbon-supported tin dioxide nanoparticles that is capable of oxidizing ethanol with high efficiency and holds great promise for developing practical direct ethanol fuel cells. • Structural and electronic properties of this catalyst were determined by using XAS and transmission electron microscope. Based on the results it was predicted that the high activity of the catalyst was the result of all three constituents-platinum, rhodium and tin oxide • The ability to split C-C bond and generate CO2 at room temperature is a completely new feature of this catalyst that no other catalyst can achieve at this potential. This opens new possibilities of research in electrocatalysts, fuel cells and other catalytic processes. Model of platinum and rhodium atoms on carbon supported tin dioxide nanoparticles. Publication: "Ternary Pt/Rh/SnO2 electrocatalysts for oxidizing ethanol to CO2," Nature Materials, January 25, 2009