NICKEL COVERED ON CELLULOSE TUBES FOR ETHANOL ELECTRO-OXIDATION REACTION

Abstract

Nickel deposited cellulose material (Ni/cellulose) was applied for highly electro-oxidation reaction toward ethanol. Cellulose was collected from waste farm products such orange skin and shaddock cover in the south side of Vietnam via hydrothermal method in alkaline media. Nickel particle has been successfully precipitated on cellulose surface by hydrazine hydrate reduction. The micromorphology, lattice parameter and surface states of Ni/cellulose composite are determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The electrooxidation activity of Ni/cellulose catalyst was also investigated by cyclic voltammograms (CV), linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and chronoamperograms (CA). Characterization results showed that Ni nanoclusters were uniformly distributed on cellulose tube, and Ni/cellulose catalyst was electrocatalytic activity and stability for ethanol electrooxidation. The maximum current density of Ni/cellulose catalyst was almost 1.2 mA cm^-2 in alkaline media with 0.1M ethanol. Ni/cellulose composite would be a promising approach toward ethanol electro-oxidation reaction and fuel cell.