الفهرس 
Introduction, Literature Review, and ObjectiveOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
A set of propitious catalysts were developed for ethylene glycol
electrooxidation (EGO), the primary anodic reaction in Direct EG fuel cells
(DEGFCs). In the course of development, a glassy carbon (GC) substrate was
modified sequentially and electrochemically with several layers; one of which
had to be platinum nanoparticles (nano-Pt). The other layers included one or two
layers of several transition metal (Ni, Mn and Co) oxide nanostructures (e.g.,
nano-NiOx, nano-MnOx and nano-CoOx). The loading level and sequence of
the catalyst ingredients impacted to a great extent the catalytic activity of EGO
where nano-Pt was optimized in the most inner layer directly on top of the GC
substrate. Several other parameters including the operating pH and temperature
and scan rate during EGO were optimized. Detailed morphological,
compositional and structural inspections of the as-prepared catalysts were
provided using FE-SEM, EDS and XRD while HPLC assisted in the detection
of the products of EGO. Interestingly, the highest catalytic activity and stability
toward EGO were achieved at the CoOx/NiOx/Pt/GC catalyst (with this
deposition sequence). For the first time, we could successfully probe the EGO
electrodynamically at the CoOx/NiOx/Pt/GC catalyst; capacitance
measurements provided important information about the reaction mechanism. In
alkaline medium, the maximum capacitance (Cmax) and the direct oxidation peak
current (Ip) of the CoOx/NiOx/Pt/GC catalyst during EGO coincided at the same
potential. Moreover, the catalyst’s capacitance was influenced y the nature and
loading of intermediates and products released during EGO. The thesis extended
to investigate the synergism in the catalytic activity at the Pt/GC catalyst upon
fuel blending (e.g., EG/MeOH and EG/EtOH). Molar ratios of 1:1 for
EG:MeOH and 1:0.2 for EG:EtOH were found optimum in this investigation
and therefore, were tested for the whole set of developed catalysts.