Synthesis and characterization of metal activated mesoporous materials to increase the performance of direct ethanol fuel cell

Due to decrease in petroleum reserves and increase in global warming, clean energy production has gained great attention. Ethanol has been considered as an important alternative in fuel cell application due to being a renewable source and not having any problem during its storage. In this study, Pt-Sn?Ni based mesoporous silicate catalysts, which were supposed to be used as an anode catalysts in ethanol fuel cell, were prepared by using different techniques. Mesoporous catalysts were successfully synthesized with direct hydrothermal synthesis method has a high surface area, were called Pt-SiO2 (Pt:Si = 0.030), Pt-SiO2 (Pt:Si = 0.015), Pt-SiO2 (Pt:Si = 0.0075), Pt-Sn -SiO2 (Pt:Sn = 2:1) and Pt-Ni-SiO2 (Pt:Ni = 2:1). Large platinum crystalls were recognized for both catalysts, also SnO2 formation was seen in the structure of Pt-Sn-SiO2 due to the presence of tin in the synthesis solution. For prepare catalyts impregnation method, support materials were prepared in three different way. In order to apply impregnation procedure firstly MCM-41, which was used as support for monometallic (Pt) and bi-metallic (Pt:Sn molar ratio of 2:1 and Pt:Ni Molar ratio of 2:1), was prepared by direct hydrothermal synthesis procedure. Mesoporous structure of MCM-41 was prevented after the impregnation of metals. While metalic Platinum was present in the synthesized catalysts, Pt-Sn alloy was observed in the structure of Pt-Sn@MCM-41 and Sn@Pt@MCM-41. Other supporting material was obtained by addition of Sn to SiO2 structure during the direct hydrothermal synthesis, that was named Sn-SiO2. This support material has had 689m2/g surface area. Pt material was added to this support in different Pt:Sn Molar ratios (Pt:Sn=2:1 and Pt:Sn=3:2) by impregnation process. Also, during direct hydrothermal synthesis Pt was added to SiO2 and new Pt-SiO2 support material was obtained for impregnation Sn to this. The all synthesized catalysts were tested in 0.5M H2SO4 and 0.5M H2SO4 + 0.5M C2H5OH electrolyte environments. It was seen that catalysts prepared by impregnation procedure were active and Pt@Sn-SiO2 (Pt:Sn=2:1) showed the highest activity, in the carried out studies. As a result of this study, Pt@Sn-SiO2 and Pt@MCM-41 catalysts could be used as anode catalysts for direct ethanol fuel cells.Key Words :Direct ethanol fuel cell, mesoporous materials, MCM-41, MCM-41, Pt@MCM-41, Pt-Sn@MCM41, Pt-Ni@MCM-41, Sn@Pt@MCM-41, Pt-SiO2, Pt-Sn-SiO2, Pt-Ni-SiO2, Pt@Sn-SiO2, Sn@Pt-SiO2