NiO/NbO/C hydrazine electrooxidation catalysts for anion exchange membrane fuel cells

Sakamoto, Tomokazu*; Masuda, Teruyuki*; Yoshimoto, Koji*; Kishi, Hirofumi*; Yamaguchi, Susumu*; Matsumura, Daiju   ; Tamura, Kazuhisa   ; Hori, Akihiro*; Horiuchi, Yosuke*; Serov, A.*; Artyushkova, K.*; Atanassov, P.*; Tanaka, Hirohisa*

NiO/ NbO/C (8:1), (4:1), (2:1), NiO/C, and Ni/C catalysts for hydrazine electrooxidation were synthesized by an evaporation drying method followed by thermal annealing. Prepared catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS), and X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS). The highest catalytic activity in mentioned above reactionwas found for Ni/C, followed by: NiO/NbO/C (8:1), NiO/NbO/C (4:1). NiO/NbO/C (2:1) whiles NiO/C has almost no activity for hydrazine oxidation. It was explained by oxygen defect of NiO in NiO/ NbO/C from XAFS analysis. The selectivity hydrazine electrooxidation as measured by ammonia production resulted in observation that metallic Ni surface facilitates N-N bond breaking of hydrazine, which was confirmed by density functional theory (DFT) calculations.