The development of the alkaline anion exchange membrane (AEM) for the direct liquid fuel cell opened up opportunities for the use of new fuels (that oxidized inefficiently in PEM fuel cells) and new catalysts (that corroded easily in PEM fuel cells).  In this work, we explore the effect of a CNT support for Pd catalysts for the oxidation of various alcohol and formate fuels in alkaline media.

We found that the CNT support provided a significant advantage over standard, activated carbon support in several of the fuels.  The increase in oxidation rate in formate, for example, was 5-fold.  However, the oxidation rate of propanol was not significantly enhanced by the CNT support.

We are presently exploring the scientific reason for the enhanced oxidation rates by the CNT support using XRD and XPS analysis.  Masel, et al, suggested that in formic acid the CNT provides enhancement due to its electronic properties, and a shift in Pd 3d_5/2­ binding energy supports this.  However, we are presently investigating why the promotion in alkaline media is so much greater than in acidic media, even for the formate (compared with formic acid).