Hydrogen Peroxide Production at Anthraquinone Grafted Carbon Electrode in the Fuel Cell Reactor

摘要

The fuel cell technology is applied to simultaneously generate energy and produce hydrogen peroxide.The method is based on the use of bipolar membranes because the alkaline medium is advantageous for O2 reduction to peroxide whereas efficiency of H2 oxidation is high under acidic environment.The objective of the project is to find a suitable combination of electrode materials and ion exchange membranes that render the electrochemical reduction of oxygen to H2O2 feasible and apply this to construct membrane electrode assemblies for the fuel cell.Three different bipolar membranes were selected for investigation:a commercial one and two home made bipolar membranes.Their suitability for hydrogen peroxide production was demonstrated in a fuel cell using carbon cloth electrodes with Pt catalyst at the anode.As a cathode,a homemade electrode based on carbon cloth gas diffusion layer was used.This electrode is coated with a mixture of carbon powder grafted with anthraquinone as an electrocatalyst and aqueous solution of tetrafluoroethylene as a binder.The described procedure was found to produce hydrogen peroxide without external energy.