Palladized dysprosium fluoride nanorods as a new performance catalyst in direct methanol fuel cell

Fuel cells are a new type of batteries that produce electricity from a continuous source of alcohols as long as fuel is inserted. In this study, decorated palladium nanoparticles (PdNPs) on dysprosium fluoride (DyF₃) nanorods (DyFNRs)‐multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were used for electrooxidation of methanol. DyFNRs were synthesized by the hydrothermal method, and the proposed multifunctional catalyst (DyFNRs/MWCNT‐PdNPs) was identified by several methods such as X‐ray diffraction, elemental mapping images, field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive analysis of X‐rays, and transmission electron microscopy which demonstrated a uniform distribution and high dispersion of the PdNPs on the supports. The electrocatalytic activity toward methanol electrooxidation on glassy carbon electrode (GCE) with DyFNRs/MWCNT‐PdNPs (DyFNRs/MWCNT‐PdNPs/GCE) was investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry (CA). Experimental results showed a high improvement in oxidation potential and peak current of methanol electrooxidation by DyFNRs/MWCNT‐PdNPs in comparison to DyFNRs and PdNPs. The values of the catalytic rate constant (k) and physical dimension (D_s) for methanol oxidation on the DyFNRs/MWCNT‐PdNPs/GCE catalyst were calculated 0.008 s^?1 and 1.43, respectively. Moreover, the order of reaction was determined to be 0.43 and 0.13 for CH₃OH and NaOH, repectively. Finally, the synthesized catalyst was evaluated in direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). The single DMFC with proposed anodic catalyst, DyFNRs/MWCNT‐PdNPs, indicated a power density of 4.4 mW·cm^?2 at a current density of 18 mA·cm^?2 in alcohol (1 M) and NaOH (1 M).