Abstract:
The extreme energy depletion has negative effects for the global ecosystem.
Environmental pollution has become a serious concern throughout the world as a result
of the fast depletion and usage of fossil fuels. Fuel cells are being considered as a viable
alternative to fossil fuels as a source of energy. Among all fuel cell, direct methanol fuel
cells (DMFCs) have aroused a lot of attention due to their low operating temperature and
excellent energy conversion efficiency. The effectiveness of the methanol oxidation
process (MOR) utilized in DMFCs have significant effect on their performance.
Catalytic activity of catalysts is heavily reliant on their surface structure; hence,
improving the efficiency of the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) necessitates surface
structure modification. In this study, the electrocatalytic activity of mono-metallic Co/NPC, bi-metallic MnCo/NPC, and ternary NiMnCo/NPC in alkaline media for the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) was examined. These materials were produced using a simple solution mixing method and characterized using FTIR, EDX, SEM, XPS, TGA and XRD. The SEM and TEM results showed the presence of Nanoporous carbon. Als o the XRD
results showed the formation of graphitic carbon. In a three-electrode arrangement, on
glassy carbon electrodes, the investigation of methanol oxidation for electrochemical
activity of catalysts was carried in 1 M NaOH and 3 M CH3OH. Electrochemical studies
included cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry (CA), and electron impedance
spectroscopy (EIS). The ternary NiMnCo/NPC composite, which has a peak current
density of 147.85 mA/cm at 0.8 potential and a scan rate of 50 mV/s among all the
composites developed, also chronoamperometry results showed that the stability is
55.83%, proving it is a promising catalyst for methanol electrocatalysis.
