NA - Electrooxidation of biofuels in Fuel Cell Processes - an advanced study

Fuel cells are emphasized as a breakthrough technology. There is a number of scientific problems that need to be addressed to make it a robust and competitive energy technology. Hydrogen is the ultimate fuel. A major introduction of hydrogen will be heavi ly delayed because of lack of infrastructure. Liquid fuels from biomass is an interesting substitute. The proposal focus here on two related aspects: (1) mechanism of oxidation of small organic molecules for inst. from bio-fuels (2) the use of impedance methods for kinetic and mechanistic understanding and monitoring the operation of fuel cells. Through the co-supervision Ph.D. student Frode Seland of NTNU (def. Dec 2005), the kinetics of methanol and formic acid oxidation has been studied at platinum e lectrodes. In recent years, much has been learnt by surface techniques. On Pt/Ru catalysts a bifunctional mechanism has been confirmed, i.e., the CO intermediate on Pt reacts with an O-containing species on Ru. The kinetics still remain controversial, in particular the existence of a parallel pathway in methanol oxidation. The quantitative details have not been fully resolved, and further theoretical and experimental work is required. The fundamental knowledge of the research groups at NTNU and UVic is ve ry complementary. The Electrochemistry group at NTNU is strong in production of nanoparticle catalysts, with a cooperation with the Catalysis group at Departm. of chem. eng. NTNU, and of general knowledge of producing and characterizing materials and cata lytic interfaces in fuel cells. Prof. Harrington is an internationally renown expert on sophisticated methods and analyses of the impedances of such cells. This combination is necessary to solve the difficult kinetic problems in such systems The purpose of this pre-project is to establish a formal cooperation and project financing between the two universities to solve important problems in fuel cell technology, of interest for both countries.