Nanotechnology in electrocatalysis for energy - energy and chemicals from renewable resources

The selective production of valuable chemicals from renewable resources with contemporaneous release of energy is an attractive goal in terms of sustainable chemistry. This presentation gives an overview of recent research efforts at CNR-ICCOM where we have demonstrated that renewable alcohols such as ethanol, ethylene glycol, glycerol and 1,2-propandiol can be exploited in two electrochemical devices: direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFCs) and electroreformers (ERs). In both cases, an aqueous solution of the alcohol fuel in the anode compartment is oxidized on a nanostructured electrocatalyst that promotes selectively partial oxidation with high stability and fast kinetics. Under alkaline conditions, anode electrocatalysts based on nanostructured palladium (Pd) promoted by various oxide phases (e.g. CeO2 and TiO2) or with core-shell structures have been developed and used in conjunction with appropriate cathode electrocatalysts and anion exchange membranes. In an electroreformer, the alcohol is transformed into the corresponding carboxylate, while hydrogen gas is produced at the cathode through water reduction. The energy cost of hydrogen production through electroreforming is also discussed in comparison to traditional water electrolysis. Finally, our research efforts to remove Pt completely from hydrogen fed alkaline membrane fuel cells (AEM-FCs) will also be discussed.