Journal
JOURNAL OF POWER SOURCES
Volume 315, Issue -, Pages 302-307Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2016.03.028
Keywords
Electrocatalyst; Oxygen reduction reaction; Microbial fuel cell; Nitrogen-doped carbon; Porous organic polymer
Funding
- National Science Foundation [DMR-1055705]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [51375204]
- Jilin Provincial Science & Technology Department [20130727033YY, 20140101056JC]
- Project 985 on Engineering Bionics of Jilin University
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Developing efficient, readily available, and sustainable electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in neutral medium is of great importance to practical applications of microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Herein, a porous nitrogen-doped carbon material with encapsulated Fe-based nanoparticles (Fe-N-x/C) has been developed and utilized as an efficient ORR catalyst in MFCs. The material was obtained through pyrolysis of a highly porous organic polymer containing iron(II) porphyrins. The characterizations of morphology, crystalline structure and elemental composition reveal that Fe-N-x/C consists of well dispersed Fe-based nanoparticles coated by N-doped graphitic carbon layer. ORR catalytic performance of Fe-N-x/C has been evaluated through cyclic voltammetry and rotating ring-disk electrode measurements, and its application as a cathode electrocatalyst in an air-cathode single-chamber MFC has been investigated. Fe-N-x/C exhibits comparable or better performance in MFCs than 20% Pt/C, displaying higher cell voltage (601 mV vs. 591 mV), maximum power density (1227 mW m(-2) vs. 1031 mW m(-2)) and Coulombic efficiency (50% vs. 31%). These findings indicate that Fe-N-x/C is more tolerant and durable than Pt/C in a system with bacteria metabolism and thus holds great potential for practical MFC applications. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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