Facile synthesis of NS@UiO-66 porous carbon for efficient oxygen reduction reaction in microbial fuel cells

Exploiting a facile way to synthesize low-cost and high-performance oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts is a core issue in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Hence, a facile and extensible method has been developed to prepare efficient ORR catalysts by using robust UiO-66 as a precursor, modified with melamine and trithiocyanuric via the impregnation method. Benefiting from the hierarchical structure of UiO-66, the NS@UiO-66 has excellent stability, more active sites and improved mass transfer. Significantly, the half-wave potential and the current density of the NS@UiO-66 are 0.546 V vs. RHE and 6.19 mA cm(-2) respectively, which is better than that of benchmark Pt/C in neutral conditions. Furthermore, the power density of MFCs assembled with the NS@UiO-66 catalyst is 318.6 +/- 2.15 mW m(-2). The density functional theory calculation demonstrates that the reaction barrier can be reduced effectively for accelerating the ORR process through the synergistic effect of N and S. The NS@UiO-66, as an ideal candidate to substitute for the commercial Pt/C counterpart, is expected to promote the scaling-up production and application of MFCs due to low-cost elements doping and facilely synthetic method.

Automated summary

This study developed a facile and extensible method to synthesize efficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst NS@UiO-66, which exhibits excellent stability and active sites, thus improving the performance of microbial fuel cells (MFCs). The synergistic effect of nitrogen and sulfur in NS@UiO-66 reduces the reaction barrier and accelerates the ORR process. NS@UiO-66 has the potential to replace commercial Pt/C catalysts, promoting the scaling-up production and application of MFCs due to its low-cost elements doping and easy synthesis method.