Combinatorial discovery and development of anode catalysts for direct ethanol fuel cells

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The objective of the work is to discover and develop ethanol oxidation (anode) catalysts that would help make direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFC) viable for transportation and utility applications. This would allow widespread use of ethanol as a fuel, greatly mitigating CO2 emission due to both the high efficiencies of fuel cells and use of a renewable fuel. To achieve this objective, we will use high-throughput combinatorial screening of binary, ternary and quaternary alloy catalysts in a 64-elecrode fuel cell together with product analysis and detailed mechanistic studies. This combination of techniques is necessary to simultaneously optimize both the performance and efficiency of the fuel cell, to avoid the generation of by-products and to allow fundamental understanding of the catalysts. The project involves a collaboration between two of Canada's strongest researchers in the fuel cell catalyst area, Peter Pickup at Memorial University and Jeff Dahn at Dalhousie University. In addition, the supporting organizations, 3M Canada and 3M Co. are recognized world-wide for their innovations in fuel cell component development, particularly for the state-of-the-art nanostructured thin film catalyst support that will be employedin the combinatorial fuel cell in this work. Thus, the project brings an excellent academic team and an industry leader together in a project which is vital for energy production and storage in the long term.