Journal
APPLIED ENERGY
Volume 242, Issue -, Pages 516-525Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.03.050
Keywords
Watermelon rind; Hierarchically porous structure; Pyridinic nitrogen; Graphitic nitrogen; Oxygen reduction reaction
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Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation [51208122, 51778156, 51708142, 51708143]
- Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou [201707010256, 201806010191]
- Guangzhou University's Training Program for Excellent New-recruited Doctors [YB201710]
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Cathodic electrocatalyst is critical to the performance of microbial fuel cells. Developing cost-effective and efficient catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction is therefore an important step towards wider application of microbial fuel cells. Herein, we report a cost-effective and environment-friendly strategy for synthesis of nitrogen doped hierarchically porous carbon with watermelon rind as a nitrogen-rich and high stability precursor and the biochar is used as cathode catalyst in air cathode microbial fuel cells. In this study, the pyrolysis derivative, WRC-700, achieves a current density of redox peak of 0.19 mA cm(-2), which is comparable to the Pt/C catalyst. There are more C-N bonds and higher concentrations of pyridinic nitrogen and graphitic nitrogen in the carbon framework of WRC-700 catalyst resulting in an outstanding electrochemical active area of 658.90 m(2) g(-1), functioning through a four-electron pathway toward oxygen reduction reaction process. The charge transfer resistance of 20.63 Omega is achieved by WRC-700 cathode, which is slightly smaller than PVC cathode (37.56 Omega). With experimental validation, we find that carbon from watermelon rind biomass can be considered as a superior alternative to non-metal catalyst in microbial fuel cell applications and envisage an enhanced power output from microbial fuel cells using the catalyst-modified cathodes.
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