Abstract
A NUMBER of investigators have reported high-performance, direct hydrocarbon fuel cells1–4. In every case, the direct hydrocarbon anode has used a large amount of high-area platinum black or Raney platinum in the range of about 10–100 mg/cm2 of geometric electrode area. This tends to counteract the advantage of being able to operate on inexpensive hydrocarbon fuels. Furthermore, there is a tendency for performance to be proportional to platinum content. Niedrach5 has shown that ‘Teflon’-bonded electrodes6 containing mechanical mixtures of platinum black with tantalum or platinum deposited on tantalum give performance on propane which is just proportional to the platinum content. Thus, the advantage of reduction in platinum content is cancelled out by the reduction in performance.
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References
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GRUBB, W., MCKEE, D. Boron Carbide, a New Substrate for Fuel Cell Electrocatalysts. Nature 210, 192–194 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1038/210192b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/210192b0
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