Design of Noble Metal Free Electrocatalysts for Efficient Oxygen Reduction in Low Temperature Fuel Cells

Abstract

The revolution in the industrial sector in the 19th century led to enormous rise in the employment but at the same time, extensive consumption of fossil fuels. Overutilization of fossil fuels led to generation of excess green-house gases that in turn resulted in global warming, which is the biggest environmental issue that the whole world has been facing today. Besides, the demand for energy keeps on increasing with the population and thus fossil fuels are reducing at an alarming rate. In this scenario, it is an immense challenge to find alternative renewable energy sources to fulfill world s energy demand in more sustainable way. The fuel cells have been recognized as one of the most potential candidates for renewable energy sources because the energy conversion efficiency of fuel cells is three times more as compared to conventional engines. Also, in fuel cells, the electric energy is obtained from chemical energy with only water as a by-product. Thus, fuel cells are pollution free and superior renewable sources among various other energy sources and conversion systems. Among various types of fuel cells, alkaline fuel cells (AFC) exhibit immense potential because they work at lower temperature as well as possess high electric efficiency newline