Virendra K. Mathur, Dept. of Chem. Eng., University of New Hampshire, 260 Kingsbury Hall, Durham, NH 03824 and Ryan S. Banfield, Dept. of Chem. Eng., University of New Hampshire, W311 Kingsbury Hall, Durham, NH 03824.
The direct ethanol fuel cells have attracted universal attention because ethanol has low volatility, no toxicity,inexpensive, high availability and easily transported. Our previous work on methanol with PtRu/C on Ballard gas diffusion layers has shown that superior DMFC performance can be obtained. The oxidation of ethanol is difficult and sluggish. Several catalysts coated on micro-porous Ballard gas diffusion layers are evaluated at various experimental conditions. Results will be presented in this paper.