Dimethyl ether (DME) is a nontoxic gas that is considered a potential fuel for direct-feed proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). DME has several advantages over other fuels, including high energy density, pumpless fuel delivery, liquefied storage, low toxicity and minimal crossover through Nafion^® membranes in PEMFC. However, the low activity of the state-of-the-art catalyst (Pt₅₀Ru₅₀) for DME oxidation is the main hurdle in the development of efficient fuel cell devices. In this work, fine layers of SnO₂ on high surface-area carbon (Pt_xPd_y/SnO₂/C) catalysts were synthesized by ethylene glycol-assisted reduction and characterized by X-ray diffraction, TEM, EDX, XPS, and ICP-OES. The electro-oxidation of DME was systematically studied in a conventional three-electrode cell and a laboratory prototype direct DME fuel cell (DDMEFC) operating at 70 °C. Compared to other catalysts reported for DME oxidation, the Pt_0.75Pd_0.25/SnO₂/C shows higher specific power density in both the conventional three-electrode cell and the fuel cell configurations. The peak power density delivered by direct gas feed DDMEFCs is 110 mW cm^-2 at 0.4 V with only 1.2 mg cm⁻² of platinum group metal (PGM) loading.

二甲醚（DME）是一种无毒气体，被认为是直接进料质子交换膜燃料电池（PEMFC）的潜在燃料。DME具有优于其它燃料，包括高能量密度，无泵的燃料输送，液化贮存，低毒性和最小的交叉通过的Nafion几个优点^®在PEMFC的膜。然而，最新的催化剂（Pt ₅₀ Ru ₅₀）对DME氧化的低活性是开发高效燃料电池装置的主要障碍。在这项工作中，的SnO精细层₂上的高表面积碳（PT _X钯_ý /的SnO ₂/ C）催化剂是通过乙二醇辅助还原合成的，并通过X射线衍射，TEM，EDX，XPS和ICP-OES进行了表征。在常规的三电极电池和在70°C下运行的实验室原型直接DME燃料电池（DDMEFC）中，系统地研究了DME的电氧化。与报道的用于DME氧化的其他催化剂相比，Pt _0.75 Pd _0.25 / SnO ₂ / C在常规的三电极电池和燃料电池配置中均显示出更高的比功率密度。由直接供气的DDMEFC输送的峰值功率密度 在0.4 V时为110 mW cm ^-2，仅载有1.2 mg cm ^-2的铂族金属（PGM）。