Use of phyllosilicates in electrochemical devices: possible use of sepiolite as a support of catalysts in direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFC)

Direct alcohol Fuel cells (DAFC) are interesting to use Brazil for reasons of fuel logistics and availability. The catalysts used in these devices to promote the oxidation of alcohol at the anode need to be fixed on a substrate which must provide high specific surface area, porosity, chemical and thermal resistance, this target can be achieved with the characteristics sepiolite. This paper proposes sepiolite as catalyst support for DAFC. Sepiolite is a phyllosilicate with double layered tetrahedral silicon cells and fibrillar structure. Catalysts (Pt / Sb / Sn) were prepared by cation substitution method and tested by cyclic voltammetry. Techniques as XRD and FT-IR were also used for characterizing materials. Was obtained up to 35 mA / g (Pt) peak current (redox ethanol) indicating the possibility of sepiolite technology development to use un proposed purpose. (author)