Performance study of passive and active direct borohydride fuel cell employing a commercial Pd decorated Ni-Co/C anode catalyst

In this study, a new Pd decorated Ni-Co/C anode catalyst with remarkably high performance was introduced for using in direct borohydride fuel cell (DBFC) and compared to conventional 10 wt.% Pt/C anode catalyst. The activity and poisoning tolerance of both catalysts were investigated by electrochemical techniques in half-cell. The results indicated that the Pd decorated Ni-Co/C had higher activity compared to the 10 wt.% Pt/C in borohydride oxidation reaction (BOR). However, its poisoning tolerance was lower than 10 wt.% Pt/C during 200 cycles. Passive DBFC results demonstrated that the cell performance and open circuit voltage (OCV) were improved by using the Pd decorated Ni-Co/C as an anode catalyst compared to commercial 10 wt.% Pt/C; 126 mW cm(-2) vs. 76 mW cm(-2) and 1010 mV vs. 892 mV respectively. Moreover, the maximum peak power density of 761 mW cm(-2) was obtained by Pd decorated Ni-Co/C anode catalyst in active DBFC which is comparable to generated power by H-2/O-2 proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC); 772 mW cm(-2) at the same conditions. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.