Abstract :

Direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs) offer one of the attractive alternatives to conventionalcombustion technologies as low carbon power sources for vehicles and could become important powersources for consumer electronics and distributed power systems. They provide very high theoreticalefficiency (97%), and ethanol is a safe, plentiful, and renewable resource that can be simply stored andhandled through the current infrastructure. However, the development and commercialization of DEFCsare hampered by low practical efficiencies and the production of acetaldehyde and acetic acid byproductsas well as carbon monoxide. New anode catalysts are needed to solve these problems, and these need tobe evaluated in terms of their electrochemical performance, efficiency, and emissions. In combinationwith computational studies, various experimental techniques including DEMS, in situ FTIR, and NMRcould be employed to provide insights regarding the mechanisms of the ethanol electrooxidation reactionoccurring at the newly designed anode catalysts. This insight is necessary to provide the understandingrequired to allow highly active catalytic materials to be developed and thus enhance the performance andefficiency of DEFCs.