Redox promoters for methonol fuel cells

Abstract

The invention refers to a fuel cell electrode for oxidation preferably methanol or methanol reformate in a fuel cell with acid electrolytes. The electrode material comprises of a) carbons modified by the chemisorption or covalent attachment of metallocomplexes, over which a noble metal catalyst such as platinum is deposited, b) carbon-noble metal systems mixed with metallocomplexes, and c) mixtures of noble metal blacks and metallocomplexes. An improvement of 100-200 mV is seen over controls using platinum alone in full tests using methanol and oxygen or air. The advantages of using the disclosed promoters is the use of low loaded (20% Pt on carbon) electrodes rather than pure noble metal or alloy blacks.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.