A hydrogen peroxide fuel cell has been operated under acidic conditions for the first time by scientists in Japan and Korea.
Hydrogen peroxide can be a benign energy carrier because it can be produced by the two-electron reduction of oxygen and can also generate electricity by hydrogen peroxide fuel cells. Electrochemical oxygen reduction takes place in acidic conditions with high current efficiencies, but all hydrogen peroxide fuel cells, until now, have operated under basic conditions.
The acidic fuel cell’s open current potential was a dramatic improvement over fuel cells operated under basic conditions, say the researchers.
Read the paper today –
Protonated iron-phthalocyaninate complex used for cathode material of a hydrogen peroxide fuel cell operated under acidic conditions
Y Yamada, S Yoshida, T Honda and S Fukuzumi
Energy Environ. Sci., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/c1ee01587g
