High-Performance Alkaline Direct Methanol Fuel Cell using a Nitrogen-Postdoped Anode

A commercial PtRu/C catalyst postdoped with nitrogen demonstrates a significantly higher performance (∼10-20 % improvement) in the anode of an alkaline direct methanol fuel cell than an unmodified commercial PtRu/C catalyst control. The enhanced performance shown herein is attributed at least partially to the increased electrochemical surface area of the PtRu/C after postdoping with nitrogen. High performance: We demonstrate a high performance alkaline direct methanol fuel cell (ADMFC) that obtains high maximum power densities in oxygen as well as in air using a commercial PtRu/C catalyst. Upon doping the commercial catalyst with nitrogen, we are able to further improve the performance to the highest power densities demonstrated so far for an ADMFC.