An alkaline direct oxidation glucose fuel cell using three-dimensional structural Au/Ni-foam as catalytic electrodes

Abstract

Glucose is an ideal fuel for fuel cells because it is abundant in nature, renewable, non-toxic and easy to produce. Glucose fuel cells using enzymes and microbes as the catalysts are limited by their very poor performance and rather short durability. In this work, a direct oxidation glucose fuel cell using an anion-exchange membrane and three-dimensional structural Au/Ni foam electrodes is developed. The effects of the concentration of glucose and KOH and operation temperature on the fuel cell performance are investigated. The results show that this type of direct oxidation glucose fuel cell with a relatively cheap membrane and non-platinum catalysts can produce a maximum power density of 26.6 mW cm-2 at a current density of 89 mA cm-2 with 0.5 M glucose and 6 M KOH at a temperature of 70 °C, which is favorable for large-scale use. The high performance of the fuel cell is attributed mainly to the increased kinetics of both the glucose oxidation reaction and oxygen reduction reaction, rendered by a better electrocatalytic activity of the Au/Ni foam and higher operating temperature.