A direct borohydride fuel cell employing Prussian blue as mediated electron-transfer hydrogen peroxide reduction catalyst

Abstract

A direct borohydride-hydrogen peroxide fuel cell employing carbon-supported Prussian Blue (PB) as mediated electron-transfer cathode catalyst is reported. While operating at 30 ° C, the direct borohydride-hydrogen peroxide fuel cell employing carbon-supported PB cathode catalyst shows superior performance with the maximum output power density of 68 mW cm^-2 at an operating voltage of 1.1 V compared to direct borohydride-hydrogen peroxide fuel cell employing the conventional gold-based cathode with the maximum output power density of 47 mW cm^-2 at an operating voltage of 0.7 V. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDAX) suggest that anchoring of Cetyl-Trimethyl Ammonium Bromide (CTAB) as a surfactant moiety on carbon-supported PB affects the catalyst morphology. Polarization studies on direct borohydride-hydrogen peroxide fuel cell with carbon-supported CTAB-anchored PB cathode exhibit better performance with the maximum output power density of 50 mW cm^-2 at an operating voltage of 1 V than the direct borohydride-hydrogen peroxide fuel cell with carbon-supported Prussian Blue without CTAB with the maximum output power density of 29 mW cm^-2 at an operating voltage of 1 V.