CoNi Nanoparticles/CNT Composite as Effective Anode for Direct Urea Fuel Cells

Abstract

CoNi nanoparticles/CNTs composite is introduced as workable anode in the direct urea fuel cells. The proposed anode was prepared by calcination under argon atmosphere of a dried cobalt acetate/nickel acetate/CNTs/ethanol slurry at 850 oC. The composition of the metal nanoparticles was optimized by synthesizing composites having different cobalt contents compared to nickel. The results indicated that the best performance is attributed to the anode containing nanoparticles having 10 wt% Co as the corresponding generated power was 3.95 mW/m2 which is 40 folds compared to that obtained from pristine nickel nanoparticles-containing anode (0.09 mW/m2).