Département de chimie moléculaire

A biomimetic Ni bis-diphosphine complex incorporating the amino acid arginine in the outer coordination sphere was immobilized on modified C nanotubes (CNTs) through electrostatic interactions. The functionalized redox nanomaterial exhibits reversible electrocatalytic activity for the H2/2 H+ interconversion from pH 0 to 9, with catalytic preference for H2 oxidn. at all pH values. The high activity of the complex over a wide pH range allows one to integrate this bio-inspired nanomaterial either in an enzymic fuel cell together with a multi-copper oxidase at the cathode, or in a p exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) using Pt/C at the cathode. The Ni-based PEMFC reaches 14 mW cm-2, only 6-times-less as compared to full-Pt conventional PEMFC. The Pt-free enzyme-based fuel cell delivers ≈2 mW cm-2, a new efficiency record for a H biofuel cell with base metal catalysts. [on SciFinder(R)]