Palladium-based bimetallic catalysts for alkaline direct alcohol fuel cell (ADAFC)

This work investigated carbon supported Pd, PdNi and PdAg electrocatalysts for electrooxidation reactions of methanol and ethanol in alkaline media. The results show that Pd/C electrocatalysts alone have low activity and poor stability for the alcohol electrooxidation. Addition of metals like Ni and Ag significantly promotes the catalytic activity and stability of the electrocatalysts for the alcohol electrooxidation. The investigation of the influence of metal amount added to the Pd on the electrocatalyst shows that Pd3Ag1/C and Pd3Ni1/C are much more efficient than Pd/C for methanol electrooxidation while Pd5Ag 1/C and Pd3Ag1/C are much more efficient than Pd/C for ethanol electrooxidation.