Nanocatalyst for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC)

Nanotechnology has recently been applied to direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC), one of the most suitable and promising options for portable devices. With characteristics such as low working temperature, high energy-conversion efficiency and low emission of pollutants, DMFCs may help solve the future energy crisis. However, a significant limitation to DMFC includes slow reaction kinetics, which reduces performance and power output. Recently, research has focused on increasing the performance and activity of catalysts. Catalysts composed of small, metallic particles, such as platinum and ruthenium, supported on nanocarbons or metal oxides are widely used in DMFC. Thus, this paper presents an overview of the development of nanocatalysts for DMFC. Particularly, this review focuses on nanocatalyst structure, catalyst support, and challenges in the synthesis of nanocatalyst. This paper also presents computational approaches for theoretical modeling of nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes (CNT) through molecular dynamic techniques. (C) 2010 Professor T. Nejat Veziroglu. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.