Activity evaluation of commercial Pd/C for formate oxidation reaction

Direct formate fuel cells use various anode catalysts, with the most commonly used catalyst being commercial Pd/C. A comparison between the performance of ethanol oxidation on Pd/C and Pt/C electrocatalysts in an alkaline environment revealed that Pd/C is superior for two reasons. Firstly, palladium has a higher oxygen affinity which enables it to better absorb various catalysts that are utilized in fuel cells, with Pd/C being the most frequently used one. Secondly, palladium is more durable and less susceptible to poisoning from direct oxidation of liquid fuel. (1) To investigate the Pd/C activity for formate oxidation, experiments were conducted using a commercial Pd/C catalyst. The catalyst ink consists of 5 mg of 10 wt% Pd/C, along with 30% wt% of Nafion, which includes 0.0428 mL of a mixture of water and isopropyl alcohol in a ratio of 1:9 as solvent. The ink is mixed well and dispersed onto a glassy carbon electrode using a high-precision syringe. The prepared electrode is then placed in an oven at 80℃ for 60 min. Afterward, a three-electrode system is performed using a platinum plate counter electrode and an Ag/AgCl reference electrode.