Evaluation of an Alkaline Fuel Cell for Multifuel System

The performance of an alkaline fuel cell (AFC) is investigated using three different fuels, e.g., methanol, ethanol, and sodium borohydride. $Pt∕C∕Ni$ was used as anode, whereas $MnO2∕C∕Ni$ was used as standard (Electro-Chem-Technic, UK) cathode for all the fuels. Fresh mixture of electrolyte, potassium hydroxide (5M), and fuel (2M) was fed to AFC and withdrawn at a rate of $1ml∕min$⁠. The anode was prepared by dispersing platinum and activated carbon in Nafion® (DuPont USA) dispersion and placing it onto a carbon paper (Lydall, USA). Finally prepared anode material was pressed onto Ni mesh and sintered to produce the required anode. The maximum power density of $16.5mW∕cm2$ is obtained at $28mA∕cm2$ of current density for sodium borohydride at $25°C$⁠, whereas methanol produces $31.5mW∕cm2$ of maximum power density at $44mA∕cm2$ of current density at $60°C$⁠. The results obtained showed that the AFC could accept multifuels.