Electro-oxidation Study of Acetic Acid at Low Temperature in Membraneless Micro-fluidic Fuel Cell for Portable Power Application

Authors

  • Hiralal Pramanik Department of Chemical Engineering & Technology, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), U.P., India
  • Solanke Pawankumar Department of Chemical Engineering & Technology, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), U.P., India
  • Shashank Pardhikar Department of Chemical Engineering & Technology, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), U.P., India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37591/jomcct.v7i1.1916

Keywords:

Acetic acid, micro-fluidic, fuel cell, membraneless, hydrogen peroxide

Abstract

The global energy crisis due to dependence on fossil fuel and its limited reserves followed by environmental pollution are the key concerns to the research communities. However, recently developed micro-fluidic fuel cells using hydrogen-rich fuels are most likely to replace the batteries, due to their compactness, high efficiency and simplicity in operation. In this context, the PtxSn/C (where, x=1, 3, 5) electrode-catalysts were prepared and the electro-oxidation of acetic acid was investigated on most active Pt3Sn/C anode. The prepared electrode-catalysts were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD). The Y-shaped micro-fluidic fuel cell was fabricated with help of CNC machine on perspex sheet. The anode and cathode were prepared using Pt3Sn/C and Pt/C (Alfa Aesar, USA) respectively, with electrode-catalyst loading of 1 mg/cm2 in both the electrodes. Acetic acid solutions of 1, 1.5 and 2 M concentrations were used as fuel at anode. 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 M H2SO4 solutions were used as electrolytes. The oxidants at the cathode were 1, 2 and 3 M solutions of H2O2. The open circuit voltage (OCV) was measured at different flow rates of anode (acetic acid+H2SO4) and cathode (H2O2+H2SO4) mixtures. The maximum OCV of 0.13 V was obtained for 2 M acetic acid mixed with 0.2 M H2SO4. The maximum power density of 0.036 mW/cm2 at current density of 0.47 mA/cm2 was obtained for 1.5 M acetic acid at the anode and 2 M H2O2 as oxidant in 0.2 M H2SO4 at the cathode. The optimum flow rates of anode and cathode side were found to be 1.125 ml/min for OCV of 0.118 V.

 

Downloads

Published

2019-04-24

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 1 (2016)

Section

Articles

License

Declaration and Copyright Transfer Form

(to be completed by authors)

I/ We, the undersigned author(s) of the submitted manuscript, hereby declare, that the above manuscript which is submitted for publication in the STM Journals(s), is not published already in part or whole (except in the form of abstract) in any journal or magazine for private or public circulation, and, is not under consideration of publication elsewhere.

  • I/We will not withdraw the manuscript after 1 week of submission as I have read the Author Guidelines and will adhere to the guidelines.
  • I/We Author(s ) have niether given nor will give this manuscript elsewhere for publishing after submitting in STM Journal(s).
  • I/ We have read the original version of the manuscript and am/ are responsible for the thought contents embodied in it. The work dealt in the manuscript is my/ our own, and my/ our individual contribution to this work is significant enough to qualify for authorship.
  •  I/We also agree to the authorship of the article in the following order:

Author’s name                                    

 

1. ________________

2. ________________

3. ________________

4. ________________

 

We  Author(s) tick this box and would request you to consider it as our signature as we agree to the terms of this Copyright Notice, which will apply to this submission if and when it is published by this journal.