Electro-Oxidation of Hydrocarbons in Fuel Cells

The earliest intensive research into the direct electro-oxidation of hydrocarbons for fuel cell applications was in the late 1950 s and the 1960 s. Early attempts to anodically oxidize hydrocarbons were disappointing, in that low rates were observed with both the lower molecular weight gases and higher molecular weight hydrocarbons. To achieve acceptable rates of oxidation. 

An alternative approach to realizing hydrocarbon-based fuel cells involved the use of liquid electrolytes. Sulfuric acid was not widely used due to 

An interesting observation of their studies on propane oxidation relates to the observed behavior at higher loads as the cell approaches a steady state. The group suggests that the formation of oxide films on the anode electrode structure affects the voltage response and steady state behavior of the cell above a critical current density, being similar to the type of oxide films observed as early as the 1920s with the electrolysis of formic acid, methanol, and formaldehyde. 

To conclude, a large of amount of research has been performed, most notably in the 1960 s, with the intent of developing electrocatalysts and electrochemical fuel cell systems which use hydrocarbon-based fuels. However, due to the limited success achieved to-date in the electro-oxidation of hydrocarbons, more recently, effort has focused upon the use of hydrogen as 

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