Porous carbon as electrode material in direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs) synthesized by the direct carbonization of MOF-5

Porous carbon (PC-900) was prepared by direct carbonization of porous metal-organic framework (MOF)-5 (Zn₄O(bdc)₃, bdc=1,4-benzenedicarboxylate) at 900 °C. The carbon material was deposited with PtM (M=Fe, Ni, Co, and Cu (20 %) metal loading) nanoparticles using the polyol reduction method, and catalysts PtM/PC-900 were designed for direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs). However, herein, we are reporting PtFe/PC-900 catalyst combination which has exhibited superior performance among other options. This catalyst was characterized by powder XRD, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) technique. The electrocatalytic capability of the catalyst for ethanol electrooxidation was investigated using cyclic voltammetry and direct ethanol single cell testing. The results were compared with those of PtFe and Pt supported on Vulcan XC72 carbon catalysts (PFe/CX-72 and Pt/XC-72) prepared via the same method. It has been observed that the catalyst PtFe/PC-900 developed in this work showed an outstanding normalized activity per gram of Pt (6.8 mA/g Pt) and superior power density (121 mW/cm² at 90 °C) compared to commercially available carbon-supported catalysts.