Employment of Fiber-Shaped Cobalt Modified with Gold Nanoparticles as Anode in Direct Borohydride and Hydrazine Fuel Cells

摘要

In this study, fiber-shaped cobalt was electroplated on the copper surface and modified with various amounts of gold nanoparticles (denoted as AuCo_(fiber)/Cu) with the aim to use it as the anode in direct borohydride and hydrazine fuel cells. Single fuel cell tests were performed by employing the prepared AuCo_(fiber)/Cu catalysts with the Au loadings in the range of 10.9-84.4 μg_(Au) cm~(-2) as the anode and a Pt sheet as the cathode. It was found that the peak power densities up to 162 and 188 mW cm~(-2) at a temperature of 25°C were obtained from N_2H_4-H_2O_2 (DHHPFC) and NaBH_4-H_2O_2 (DBHPFC) fuel cells, respectively. It is worth to note that the highest specific peak power density values of 12.0 kW g~(-1)_(Au) and 14.9 kW g~(-1)_(Au) were obtained, when employing the AuCo_(fiber)/Cu catalyst with the Au loading of 10.9 μg_(Au) cm~(-2) as the anode catalyst.