Electrooxidation of crude glycerol as waste from biodiesel in a nanofluidic fuel cell using Cu@Pd/C and Cu@Pt/C

Glycerol is the primary by-product of the transesterification of vegetable oils in the presence of acidic or alkaline catalysts during biodiesel production. In this study, crude glycerol was employed as fuel in an air-breathing membraneless nanofluidic fuel cell operated at room temperature under alkaline conditions. Cu@Pt/C and Cu@Pd/C were synthesized via a chemical reduction method and used as anode electrocatalysts; X-ray patterns revealed a face-centered cubic structure with crystallite sizes of 4 and 10 nm, respectively. Pt/C and Pd/C (from ETEK) were used for comparative purposes. Higher cell performances were obtained using Cu@Pt/C as electrocatalyst showing high capability to oxidize crude glycerol, resulting in power densities of 23 mW cm(-2) for analytical glycerol and 21.8 mW cm(-2) for crude glycerol at room temperature. With these results a novel and environmentally friendly application for the crude glycerol considered as waste in small energy-supplier devices is demonstrated. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.