Performance of an alkaline direct ethanol fuel cell with hydrogen peroxide as oxidant

An alkaline direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC) with hydrogen peroxide as the oxidant is developed and tested. The present fuel cell consists of a non-platinum anode, an anion exchange membrane, and a non-platinum cathode. It is demonstrated that the peak power density of the fuel cell is 130 mW cm−2 at 60 °C (160 mW cm−2 at 80 °C), which is 44% higher than that of the same fuel cell setup but with oxygen as the oxidant. The improved performance as compared with the fuel cell with oxygen as the oxidant is mainly attributed to the superior electrochemical kinetics of the hydrogen peroxide reduction reaction and the reduced ohmic loss associated with the liquid oxidant.