Perylene Derivative Complexes as Cocatalyst for Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Ethanol

Abstract

Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells (DAFCs) are advantageous energy sources for mobile and portable applications because ethanol can be produced from biomass on a large scale and is less toxic than methanol. However, even when metallic Pt is used as catalyst, the complete oxidation of ethanol to CO2 and H2O is not without problems, which calls for the search for more efficient, selective, and low-cost catalysts. This study employed cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry techniques to assess the performance of [Ru(phen)2(pPDI)](PF6)2, namely bis(1,10-phenanthroline)(N-(5-amin-1,10-phenanthroline) perylene-3,4,9,10 tetracarboximonoimide)ruthenium(II) hexafluorphosphate, as co-catalyst in the electrocatalytic oxidation of ethanol. To this end, the compound mentioned above containing metal ion Ru(II) and perylene-based ligand was used in the oxidation of ethanol in the presence of Pt/C (Pt/C:RupPDI) and PtSn/C (PtSn/C:RupPDI), thereby obtaining catalysts with different metal/complex mass ratios. The results of cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry indicate that in spite of the coordination compound RupPDI does not exhibit good catalytic efficiency by itself, it does so when associated with nanoparticulate metal catalysts; that is, the use of PtSn/C:RupPDI (3:1) as a catalyst resulted in higher peak current density.