High activity of Au–Cu/C electrocatalyst as anodic catalyst for direct borohydride-hydrogen peroxide fuel cell

Carbon supported Au–Cu bimetallic nanoparticles are prepared by a modified NaBH4 reduction method in aqueous solution at room temperature. The electrocatalytic activities of the Au–Cu/C catalysts are investigated by cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry, chronopotentiometry and fuel cell experiments. It has been found that the Au–Cu/C catalysts have much higher catalytic activity for the direct oxidation of BH4− than Au/C catalyst. Especially, the Au67Cu33/C catalyst presents the highest catalytic activity for BH4− electrooxidation among all as-prepared catalysts, and the DBHFC using Au67Cu33/C anode catalyst and Au/C cathode catalyst shows the maximum power density of 51.8 mW cm−2 at 69.5 mA cm−2 and 20 °C.