Preparation Method And Application Of Anode Catalyst For Glucose Fuel Cell Containing Nickel Cobalt Nitride

Utilization of fossil fuel is continuously increasing with urbanization and population growth and the reserves of fossil fuels are alarmingly decreasing.The burning of petroleum based fuel is serious threat to the environment and causing many environmental problems.Therefore,the reinforcement of renewable and sustainable energy sources is the need of the hour.As a green,reliable and economical source of energy,direct carbohydrate fuel cell has got tremendous attention and become a research hot topic.There is a need to develop economic,highly efficient,stable and environmental friendly electro-catalyst for the fuel cell that decrease the over potential and enhance the energy-conversion proficiency of electrochemical devices.In this study,a new kind of nickel cobalt nitride?Ni₃N-Co₃N?composite catalyst with orbicular structure was successfully developed.The urea glass route method was used to contract this non noble transition metal nitride catalyst.In order to examine the structure and morphological properties of the as-synthesized catalyst and to explore the electro-catalytic mechanism for the oxidation of glucose,the catalyst materials were examined by SEM,EDS,XRD.Consequently,it was found that the Ni₃N-Co₃N composite catalyst has crystalline structure and existed in nanoparticles form.The electrochemical properties were investigated by using CV,LSV and EIS techniques.On the basis of the results of electrochemical tests,different catalysts were found to have different electrochemical performances and among them,Ni₃N-Co₃N composite catalyst was observed the most electro-active anode catalyst due to the synergistic effect between Ni and Co.The as-developed Ni₃N-Co₃N composite catalyst mixed with AC was applied to one-chamber direct glucose alkaline fuel cell?DGAFC?as an anode catalyst under the test condition of adding 1.0 M glucose in 3 M KOH solution at an ambient temperature.The maximum power density of 30.89 W/m² was recorded which is 2.58and 1.28 times higher than that with the bare/AC and Ni-Co/AC?without nitrogen content?electrode,respectively.The improved anode performance can be attributed to the presence of nitrogen content in the catalyst.Nitrogen?N?has successfully enhanced the electro-catalytic ability of the transition metals by modifying the electronic structure of the catalysts.We speculate that the electronic structure of the transition metal Ni and Co is changed by the nitrogen element entering the lattice of the transition metal Ni and Co,which makes Ni₃N-Co₃N exhibit the properties of ionic crystals,covalent compounds and transition metals simultaneously,thus improving the electrocatalytic ability of the transition metal.In this paper,for the first time,we developed this novel nickel cobalt nitride catalyst that exhibits high electrochemical ability and an excellent electrochemical performance which is very promising catalyst for renewable energy devices.