Spatial distribution of reaction products in direct ethanol fuel cell

• Published in: Electrochemistry communications Vol. 11; no. 2; pp. 302 - 304
• Main Authors: Paik, Younkee, Kim, Seong-Soo, Han, Oc Hee
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier B.V 01-02-2009; Amsterdam Elsevier; New York, NY
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Equipments for energy generation and conversion: thermal, electrical, mechanical energy, etc; Ethanol crossover; Exact sciences and technology; Fuel cells; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Reaction intermediates; Reaction intermediates; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Fuel cells; Ethanol crossover; Reaction intermediate; Spatial distribution; Ethanol; Reaction product; Alcohol fuel cells; Alcohol; NMR spectrometry; Fuel cell
• ISSN: 1388-2481; 1873-1902
• DOI: 10.1016/j.elecom.2008.11.036

The electro-catalytic oxidation of ethanol in a direct-type polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell is known to be more complex than that of methanol. We used both solution and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods for the first time to successfully identify and quantify the reaction intermediates and the fuel itself which were distributed differently over fuel pathways and the polymer membrane (PEM) in the direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC). The diverse chemical species present in the exhaust were identified by high-resolution solution NMR, while the nature and amounts of the species in the PEM of the DEFC were analyzed by solid-state NMR. The relative amount of reaction intermediates of ethanol detected in the PEM was an order of magnitude higher than that observed in the exhaust, which might be of critical importance in understanding and developing DEFC systems.