| Abstract [eng] |
Conventional combustion technologies, which emit high levels of harmful particles, not only pose a threat to air pollution, health and the climate, but alsotheir operation requires enormous natural resources that are unfortunately not eternal. Therefore, the demand for alternative energy sources has mobilized scientists around the world to search for such energy sources. Fuel cells can operate more efficiently than conventional combustion engines and are more environmentally friendly energy sources than combustion engines. However, although fuel cells prototypes are already being applied in various industries (aviation, energy, electronics etc.), research into their wider applicability and performance improvement is still relevant to this day. One of the main disadvantages of fuel cells which limiting their wider practical use is cost. One of the components influencing the cost of fuel cells is the price of precious metals contained in the electrocatalytic materials used for the cathode and anode of fuel cells. Therefore, in recent decades, a lot of attention has been paid to the development of simple technologies that would allow the formation of efficient catalysts with significantly lower amounts of precious metals or to avoid the use of precious metals altogether. To achieve this goal, various additives have been introduced, such as secondary metals or metal oxides in catalysts, which use makes it possible to reduce the amount of precious metal without losing the activity of the catalyst. This study is related to the preparation of new efficient catalysts that can be used as cathode and/or anode materials in direct alcohol fuel cells. In this study metal oxide-based substrates were formed for the preparation of catalysts with the aim to reduce the amount of precious metals and to improve the efficiency of the catalysts. The influence of catalyst formation conditions on the activity of catalysts is taken into account in the work. The electrocatalytic activity of the formed catalysts was evaluated for the oxidation and oxygen reduction reactions of alcohols (ethanol, methanol, glycerol, ethylene glycol). |
