Issue 16, 2018, Issue in Progress

Fe–Mn bimetallic oxides-catalyzed oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline direct methanol fuel cells

Abstract

Two Fe–Mn bimetallic oxides were synthesized through a facile solvothermal method without using any templates. Fe2O3/Mn2O3 is made up of Fe2O3 and Mn2O3 as confirmed via XRD. TEM and HRTEM observations show Fe2O3 nanoparticles uniformly dispersed on the Mn2O3 substrate and a distinct heterojunction boundary between Fe2O3 nanoparticles and Mn2O3 substrate. MnFe2O4 as a pure phase sample was also prepared and investigated in this study. The current densities in CV tests were normalized to their corresponding surface area to exclude the effect of their specific surface area. Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) were equipped with bimetallic oxides as cathode catalyst, PtRu/C as the anode catalyst and PFM as the electrolyte film. CV and DMFC tests show that Fe2O3/Mn2O3(3 : 1) exhibits higher oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity than Fe2O3/Mn2O3(1 : 1), Fe2O3/Mn2O3(1 : 3), Fe2O3/Mn2O3(5 : 1) and MnFe2O4. The much superior catalytic performance is due to its larger surface area, the existence of numerous heterojunction interfaces and the synergistic effect between Fe2O3 and Mn2O3, which can provide numerous catalytic active sites, accelerate mass transfer, and increase ORR efficiency.

Graphical abstract: Fe–Mn bimetallic oxides-catalyzed oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline direct methanol fuel cells

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
20 Nov 2017
Accepted
12 Feb 2018
First published
26 Feb 2018
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2018,8, 8678-8687

Fe–Mn bimetallic oxides-catalyzed oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline direct methanol fuel cells

Y. Fang, Y. Wang, F. Wang, C. Shu, J. Zhu and W. Wu, RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 8678 DOI: 10.1039/C7RA12610G

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements