A remarkable activity of glycerol electrooxidation on gold in alkaline medium

In this paper, the activity and stability of glycerol oxidation on Au electrode have been investigated by cyclic voltametry, chronoamperometry and chronopotentiometry methods in alkaline medium. The glycerol shows a remarkable activity and better performance than methanol, ethanol, n-propanol, isopropanol and ethylene glycol on the Au electrode in alkaline medium. The activity and stability of glycerol oxidation on the Au electrode are higher than that of glycerol oxidation on Pd electrode. The stability of glycerol oxidation on the Au electrode is higher than that of methanol and glycerol oxidation on Pt electrode. The results show that glycerol is an excellent fuel applied in direct alcohol fuel cells with Au as anode catalyst. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.