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Air Cathode Catalysts of Microbial Fuel Cell by Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Aerogels
journal contribution
posted on 2018-12-19, 00:00 authored by Wei Yang, Yi Peng, Yudong Zhang, Jia En Lu, Jun Li, Shaowei ChenMicrobial fuel cell
(MFC) has been attracting extensive interest,
because it can be used for electricity generation and concurrently
wastewater treatment. Yet, the MFC performance has remained limited
due to the sluggish electron-transfer kinetics and hence high overpotential
of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at the cathode. In the present
study, nitrogen-doped carbon aerogels (NCAs) were prepared by pyrolysis
of polyacrylonitrile at controlled temperatures (600 to 900 °C).
Electrochemical tests showed apparent electrocatalytic activity by
the NCAs toward ORR in alkaline media, and among the series the sample
prepared at 800 °C exhibited the best performance, with a half-wave
potential of +0.80 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode and the
number of electron transfer ∼3.9. The electrocatalytic performance
was ascribed to nitrogen doping that generated catalytic active sites
that led to improved ORR kinetics. An MFC using the best NCA as cathode catalysts achieved a maximum power
density of 1048 ± 47 mW m–2, close to that
(1051 ± 28 mW m–2) based on state-of-the-art
Pt/C, and a mass specific power of 52.4 mW g–1.
These results demonstrate that cost-efficient NCAs can be used as
a viable, platinum-free, ORR catalyst for MFC applications.
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MFC applicationsORR catalystORR kineticselectron-transfer kineticswastewater treatmentelectrocatalytic activityoxygen reduction reactionair Cathode Catalystsnitrogen dopinghydrogen electrodeElectrochemical testsMicrobial Fuel CellmWNitrogen-Doped Carbon Aerogels Microbial fuel cellMFC performancenitrogen-doped carbon aerogelspower densityelectrocatalytic performancecathode catalystselectricity generationNCA
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