It is imperative to reduce society’s reliance upon the limited supply of fossil fuels. Direct methanol fuel cells are an attractive solution but there are several problems encountered by contemporary carbon-supported catalysts including poor efficiency and short life cycles due in part to methanol crossover. The following research investigated the potential of SnO2 as a replacement for carbon due to its high electrical conductivity, good corrosion resistance, and resistance to the effects of methanol crossover. In this paper, two synthesis methods to prepare Pt/SnO2 are reported: the impregnation process and the colloidal process, both relying primarily on ethylene glycol as the reduction solvent. The synthesized Pt/SnO2 material was characterized by TEM, SEM, EDX, and cyclic voltammetry.

• This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

Creator

• Chawla, Manish Kumar
• McCarthy, Kevin Michael
• Chou, Tony

Publisher

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Identifier

• E-project-042412-140055

Advisor

• Liang, Jianyu
• Datta, Ravindra

Year

• 2012

Date created

• 2012-04-24

Resource type

• Major Qualifying Project

Major

• Chemical Engineering

Rights statement

• In Copyright