Challenges and perspectives in alkaline direct ethanol fuel cells

Alkaline direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs) that have the quicker electro-kinetics of both the ethanol oxidation reaction and oxygen reduction reaction can yield much better performance than acid direct ethanol fuel cells, even with low-cost non-Pt metals as the electro-catalysts. The liquid-feed alkaline DEFC also possesses the advantages that a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) has, including simpler system structures, and fast refueling. Although appealing, many challenges in both material synthesis and system design have to be overcome before extensively commercializing the alkaline DEFCs. In view of these facts, there exists the need to improve the materials and design the novel systems, achieving the high cell performance and durability. This chapter emphasizes on challenges and perspectives in the ethanol electro-oxidation, anion-exchange membrane and the system designs.