PtM/grafeno (M = W, Mo, Mn, Co, Ru) nanokompozitų sintezė, apibūdinimas ir taikymas kuro elementams

Today energy production and conversion are vital to nations economy: these processes are strongly connected with nature and society. Big portion of energy is made from fossil fuel which usage induce pollution and greenhouse effect. Also polluted air causes local and global problems. One of problems solution is produced carbon dioxide reduction. This can be achieved using fuel cells (FC) which does not produce carbon dioxide and chemical energy is converted directly to electric energy. FC are effective, low emissions and does not produce waste products. Also, FC can use various fuels (e.g. sodium borohydride, hydrazine), can achieve high power, produce energy locally and globally, they are easily configured. Working FC prototypes are used from small electronic devices (e.g. mobile phones) to vehicles and even small power plants. As time passes FC price is getting lower but it is not low enough to compete with internal combustion engines. One part of FC price is platinum (used as catalyst) price. In laboratories new catalysts are created without platinum or some part of platinum is replaced with other cheaper metal. This study is related to the preparation of efficient catalysts, their characterization and application as the anode materials for direct borohydride (DBFC) and methanol (DMFC) fuel cells with the aim to replace expensive noble metal – platinum. Simple and low-cost method has been used for preparation of catalysts. The graphene supported platinum, tungsten, molybdenum, cobalt, manganese and ruthenium nanoparticles have been synthesized using the microwave-assisted synthesis