Page 14 - Book of Abstracts

th
8 Biannual Conference on Chemistry - CHEM 08

Promising Formic Acid Electro-oxidation at Ferric

Oxyhydroxide Nanoparticles-modified Platinum Surfaces

Bilquis Ali Al-Qodami , Hafsa H. Alalawya, Sayed Y. Sayed , Nageh K.
1
1
Allam , Ahmad M. Mohammad *
1
2
Corresponding author: Bilquisali2015@hotmail.com

ABSTRACT

Direct formic acid fuel cells (DFAFCs) have attracted significant attention
due to their low fuel crossover, high work concentration and high energy
density (2086 wh L ), In addition, it has demonstrated superiority over the
-1
long-investigated hydrogen fuel cells (HFCs) and direct methanol fuel
cells (DMFCs) in providing electricity to portable electronic devices. This
was mainly estimated from its relatively high theoretical open-circuit
potential (1.45 V), while the theoretical open-circuit potential for HFCs
and DMFCs are 1.23 and 1.21 V respectively. To ensure a rapid marketing
for DFAFCs, a facile synthesis of a binary FeOOH/Pt nanoanode for formic
acid electro-oxidation (FAO) was achieved. The investigation confirmed
the substrate’s dependence of FAO where a Pt surface was necessary but
gold (Au), glassy carbon (GC), and nano-FeOOH surfaces showed a
complete inertness. Interestingly, with this simple modification of Pt with
nano-FeOOH followed by a post-activation process (at -0.5 V vs. Ag/AgCl
in 0.2 mol L-1 NaOH) the effectiveness of Pt toward FAO increased
significantly. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM),
energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD)
were all employed to inspect, respectively, the surface morphology, bulk
composition and crystal structure of the catalyst. The electrochemical
impedance spectra could correlate the charge transfer resistances for FAO
over the inspected set of catalysts to explore the role of FeOOH in
mediating the reaction mechanism.

BOOK OF ABSTRACTS CHEM 08 (2020) Page 13