(Invited) A Kinetics Analysis of Methanol Oxidation under Electrolysis/Fuel Cell Working Conditions. (16th July 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lamy, Claude; Guenot, Benoît; Cretin, Marc; Pourcelly, Gérald
• Is Part Of: ECS transactions. Volume 66:Number 29(2015)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 12
• Publication Date: 2015-07-16
• Subjects: Electrochemistry -- Periodicals; Electrochemistry; Periodicals; Electronic journals; Electronic journal; 541.37
• DOI: 10.1149/06629.0001ecst
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1938-5862

Abstract

Abstract : The production of clean hydrogen for PEMFC was carried out by the electrochemical decomposition of methanol inside a DMFC hardware working as a PEMEC at different temperatures (25 to 85°C) and several methanol concentrations (0.1 to 10 M). Using the Pt/C cathode where hydrogen evolution does occur, as a reference electrode, it was possible to derive the methanol anode potential, Emeth, from the cell voltage Ucell (j), vs. the current density j, of the electrolysis cell corrected from ohmic losses. A Tafel plot analysis of Emeth vs. Ln (j) allowed us to estimate the cell resistance (Re ~ 0.75 Ω at 85°C), the transfer coefficient (a ~ 0.5-0.6) and the heat of activation (ΔH * ~ 50-60 kJ mole -1 ) for methanol oxidation.