High-throughput discovery and development of carbon supported anode catalysts for direct formic acid fuel cells

该项目的目标是发现和开发甲酸氧化催化剂，以提高我们的合作伙伴组织在加拿大开发的直接甲酸燃料电池的功率，效率和耐用性。甲酸燃料电池由于其更高的功率和效率，以及更低的成本和复杂性，为甲醇燃料电池的消费应用提供了一种有吸引力的替代方案。它们的安全燃料胶囊可以快速更换，这样移动的电话和笔记本电脑等设备就可以无限期地使用而无需充电。甲酸燃料电池也有可能成为可持续能源系统的重要组成部分，因为甲酸可以从生物质或使用可再生能源（例如太阳能，风能，水力）从二氧化碳中生产，并且比氢气更容易储存和运输。甲酸燃料电池技术进步的主要要求之一是开发更好的催化剂。然而，目前对甲酸电化学氧化的理解不足以预测什么比目前使用的Pd催化剂更好。因此，我们建议将多阳极燃料电池中Pd合金催化剂的高通量筛选与详细的机理研究，催化剂层工程和燃料电池的长期评估相结合。从筛选和机理研究中获得的知识和理解将指导改进的商业催化剂的开发。

The objective of this project is to discover and develop catalysts for formic acid oxidation that will improvethe power, efficiency and durability of the direct formic acid fuel cells being developed in Canada by ourpartner organization. Formic acid fuel cells offer an attractive alternative to methanol fuel cells for consumerapplications because of their higher power and efficiency, and lower cost and complexity. Their safe fuelcapsules can be quicky replaced so that devices such as mobile phones and notebook PCs can be usedindefinitely without recharging. Formic acid fuel cells also have the potential to be an important component insustainable energy systems, since formic acid can be produced from biomass, or from carbon dioxide usingrenewable energy sources (e.g. solar, wind, hydro), and is much easier to store and transport than hydrogen.One of the main requirements for advances in formic acid fuel cell technology is the development of bettercatalysts. However, the current understanding of the electrochemical oxidation of formic acid is insufficient forprediction of what will be better than the Pd catalysts that are currently used. We therefore propose to combinehigh-throughput screening of Pd alloy catalysts in a multi-anode fuel cell with detailed mechanistic studies,catalyst-layer engineering, and long-term evaluation in fuel cells. The knowledge and understanding gainedfrom the screening and mechanistic studies will guide the development of improved commercial catalysts.