Electrochemical promotion of YSZ monolith honeycomb for deep oxidation of methane

A honeycomb monolith of YSZ (yttria stabilized zirconia) was used, for the first time, as a solid electrolyte to perform electrochemical promotion of the deep oxidation of methane. The goal of this study was to validate the concept of Electrochemical Promotion of Catalysis (EPOC) by using Pd particles dispersed on the channels surface of a YSZ dense honeycomb monolith. The Pd catalyst was an effective material as methane conversion reached 20% at about 320 °C. The catalytic properties of the monolithic electrochemical catalyst were investigated upon electrical polarization at 400 °C. Non faradaic effects were observed both under positive and negative polarizations with a maximum of the faradaic efficiency of 47.