Synthesis of some metalophthalocyanines and their effects on the performance of pem fuel cells

Download
2005
Erkan, Serdar
Importance of clean, sustainable and renewable energy sources are increasing gradually because of either being environmental friendly or being alternative for fossil fuels. Hydrogen energy system will let the utilization of alternative energy sources. Fuel cells are the most suitable energy conversion devices while passing through the hydrogen economy. The cost of the fuel cell systems need to be reduced in order to achieve commercialization of these systems. One of the most important cost items is platinum which is used as catalyst both in anode and cathode sides of the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. Not only is the cost of the platinum, but also the limited reservoir of the platinum is a handicap. Therefore, the utilization of the cheap replacements of platinum catalysts will accelerate the process of commercialization. Because of their highly conjugated structure and high chemical stability metalo phthalocyanines have been encouraging electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction. Therefore, electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction in fuel cells was studied with some metalo phthalocyanines and some positive effects have been observed. In this study, phthalocyanines of cobalt, iron and nickel were synthesized via phthalic anhydride-urea method and characterized by IR Spectrophotometry, X-Ray Diffractometry and Thermal Gravimetry (TGA). Catalyst materials were prepared by impregnation method such that they contain either 4% cobalt, 4% or 10% iron or 4% nickel phthalocyanines on carbon black (Vulcan XC72) structure. Impregnated catalysts were pyrolyzed at 600oC or 1000oC and cathode electrodes were prepared by these catalysts as well as unpyrolyzed ones by spraying technique. The impregnated catalysts were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and pore structures were analyzed by surface area analyzer (by BET and BJH techniques). All

Suggestions

Steam reforming of ethanol for hydrogen production using Cu-MCM41 and Ni-MCM41 type mesoporous catalytic materials
Özdoğan, Ekin; Doğu, Timur; Department of Chemical Engineering (2007)
The world’s being alerted to the global warming danger and the depletion of fossil fuel resources, has increased the importance of the clean and renewable hydrogen energy. Bioethanol has high potential to be used as a resource of hydrogen since it is a non-petroleum feedstock and it is able to produce hydrogen rich mixture by steam reforming reactions. Discovery of mesoporous MCM-41 type high surface area silicate-structured materials with narrow pore size distributions (20-100 Å) and high surface areas (up...
Direct synthesis of dimethyl ether (dme) from synthesis gas using novel catalysts
Arınan, Ayça; Varışlı, Dilek; Department of Chemical Engineering (2010)
Increasing prices of crude oil derived transportation fuels ascended the researches on seeking alternative fuels, in last decades. Moreover, the increasing rate of global warming, because of high greenhouse gas emissions initiated new research for environment-friendly clean alternative fuels. Due to its low NOx emission, good burning characteristics and high cetane number, dimethyl ether (DME) attracted major attention as a transportation fuel alternative. Two possible pathways have been proposed for DME pr...
Sorption enhanced ethanol reforming over cobalt, nickel incorporated mcm-41 for hydrogen production
Gündüz, Seval; Doğu, Timur; Department of Chemical Engineering (2011)
The interest in hydrogen as a clean energy source has increased due to depletion of limited fossil resources and environmental impact related to CO2 emissions. Hydrogen production from bio-ethanol, which already contains large amount of water, by steam reforming reaction, has shown excellent potential with CO2 neutrality. However, steam reforming of ethanol reaction is a highly complex process including many side reactions which decrease hydrogen yield and have a negative effect on process economy. Also, th...
Development of organic-inorganic composite membranes for fuel cell applications
Erdener, Hülya; Baç, Nurcan; Department of Chemical Engineering (2007)
Hydrogen is considered to be the most promising energy carrier of the 21st century due to its high energy density and sustainability. The chemical energy of hydrogen can be directly converted into electricity by means of electrochemical devices called fuel cells. Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) are the most preferred type of fuel cells due to their low operating temperatures enabling fast and easy start-ups and quick responses to load changes. One of the most important components of a PEMFC is t...
Kinetic studies for dimethyl ether and diethyl ether production
Varışlı, Dilek; Doğu, Timur; Department of Chemical Engineering (2007)
Fast depletion of oil reserves necessitates the development of novel alternative motor vehicle fuels. Global warming problems also initiated new research to develop new fuels creating less CO2 emission. Nowadays, dimethyl ether (DME) and diethyl ether (DEE) are considered as important alternative clean energy sources. These valuable ethers are produced by the dehydration reaction of methanol and ethanol, respectively, in the presence of acidic catalysts. Besides DEE, ethylene which is very important in petr...
Citation Formats
S. Erkan, “Synthesis of some metalophthalocyanines and their effects on the performance of pem fuel cells,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2005.