SELECTIVITY OF NICKEL AND COBALT CATALYSTS FOR HYDROGEN DECOMPOSITION ON DIRECT HYDRAZINE FUEL CELL

• Main Author: Ghalib Alfaza, M
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Teknologi
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/53538
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

The use of direct hydrazine fuel cell (DHFC) is a promising alternative energy source to replace fossil fuels in order to reduce global warming because it has a high energy density and has a cell potential that is superior to other liquid fuel cells. However, it needs the right catalyst for DHFC to have an effective and efficient performance. Therefore, research on the design of the DHFC electrode material will be carried out. This research focuses on studying the thermodynamic aspects of the reaction mechanism that occurs on a nickel and cobalt-based catalyst which is carried out using a modeling and computational approach based on the density functional theory method to determine the selevtivity of nickel and cobalt catalysts for hydrogen decomposition. The selection of nickel and cobalt is based on previous studies that have shown increased catalytic activity. Nickel and cobalt-based catalysts were chosen to replace electrodes made from precious metals which would have a good impact in reducing DHFC production costs. This research can be a reference for producing the optimum electrode for application to nickel and cobalt-based DHFCs. The three reaction pathways: intramolecular decomposition, NH2-assisted decomposition, and electrochemical pathways, operate similarly on both surfaces. It was found that the intermolecular decomposition reaction assisted by NH2 has higher selectivity on nickel and cobalt catalysts compared with the other pathways. In addition, this study also shows that Ni(111) catalyst provides better performance compared to Co(0001) catalyst as a DHFC electrode.