Nanoporous Pd cathode with outstanding methanol resistance for direct methanol fuel cell

In direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs), the phenomenon of methanol crossover, where the fuel methanol in anode side permeates into the cathode through the electrolyte membrane, is a primary factor that poisons the cathode catalyst and leads to performance degradation. Therefore, developing a highly efficient cathode with excellent methanol resistance is a crucial project for DMFC technology. In this study, a nanoporous Pd cathode with outstanding methanol resistance was designed and fabricated for DMFC which also exhibits comparable oxygen reduction activity to commercial Pt/C. At an anodic methanol concentration as high as 13 M, this Pd cathode with an ultra-loading of 0.045 mgPd cm- 2 achieves a power density of 105 mW cm- 2, about 19 times higher than that of Pt/C cathode with loading of 2 mgPt cm- 2. More importantly, this home-made Pd cathode also demonstrates significantly enhanced durability. After operating for 40 h at a high anodic methanol concentration of 13 M, Pd cathode only experiences a decay in DMFC performance by 5 %, while Pt/C cathode is reduced by 95 % within just 20 min. Therefore, the developed nanoporous Pd cathode demonstrates promising prospects in highconcentration DMFC for portable power supplies.