Direct Liquid Fuel Cell Using Cyclohexanol as Regenerative Fuel for Emission-Free Energy Generation

Direct liquid fuel cells (DLFCs) are under active investigation and development for efficient electricity generation. However, most DLFCs consume carbon-based fuels and have complete oxidation that releases CO2 emissions, which raises environmental concerns and undermines the perception of DLFCs as a green technology. Herein, we report our fundamental study of the electrocatalytic cyclohexanol dehydrogenation (CDH) reaction and the investigation of a direct cyclohexanol fuel cell (DCFC) for emission-free electrical energy generation. The fast reaction kinetics of the CDH and outstanding cyclohexanone product selectivity on a commercial platinum catalyst have been demonstrated. The device-level performance achieves as high as 74.7 mW/cm2 power density and a complete conversion of cyclohexanol fuel to cyclohexanone product, which can be facilely hydrogenated back to cyclohexanol for reuse, demonstrating the regenerate DCFC strategy for emission-free and efficient energy generation. This study validates the regenerative cyclohexanol fuel cell concept and suggests its good potential to be applied as next-generation DLFCs for clean, environmentally benign energy applications.