Carbon supported Cu-Pd nanoparticles as anode catalyst for direct borohydride-hydrogen peroxide fuel cells

Carbon supported Cu-Pd bimetallic nanoparticles were prepared by a successive reduction method in aqueous solution and used as anode electrocatalyst for direct borohydride-hydrogen peroxide fuel cell (DBHFC). The physical and electrochemical properties of the as-prepared electrocatalysts are investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronopotentiometry (CP), linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and fuel cell test. The results show that the size of the crystallite is around 12.5 nm, the Cu1Pd1/C catalyst presents the highest catalytic activity among all the resultant catalysts, and the DBHFC using Cu1Pd1/C as anode catalyst and Pt mesh (1 cm x 1 cm) as cathode electrode obtains the maximum power density as high as 39.8 mW cm(-2) at a discharge current density of 80.1 mA cm(-2) at 20 degrees C. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.