Atomic-Scale Engineered Fe Single-Atom Electrocatalyst Based on Waste Pig Blood for High-Performance AEMFCs

Abstract

Biomass is the ideal precursor for fabricating oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts due to its large-scale and low-cost production, as well as its renewability. Among various forms of biomass, especially waste pig blood is a sustainable precursor for the synthesis of functional electrocatalysts. However, various proteins or metal substances present in the waste pig blood act as impurities and impede the electrocatalytic performance, preventing its direct use as an electrocatalyst. Herein, we report the successful synthesis of hierarchical 2D porous Fe single-atom catalysts on a thermally exfoliated graphene oxide support using hemoglobin-rich red blood cells obtained from purified waste pig blood discarded during the slaughtering process. Because of the widespread Fe single-atom active sites formed via an effective and short heat treatment method and the outstanding mass-transfer properties of the hierarchical porous structure, pig blood-derived carbon (PBC/900/M) showed an excellent ORR performance in alkaline media. Moreover, PBC/900/M was successfully employed as a cathode material in anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) and showed a maximum power density of 658 mW/cm2, suggesting the remarkable potential for application in AEMFCs. This strategy provides a general approach to prepare a highly efficient single-atom-based catalyst with high performance using abundant biomass as a cost-effective electrocatalyst source.

Mineral Modulated Single Atom Catalyst for Effective Water Treatment

“…The N 1s core-level spectra of p-CoSi 1 N 3 @D is well divided into four peaks, including pyridinic N, CoN, pyrrolic N, and graphitic N (Figure S12, Supporting Information). [45][46][47][48][49][50] The pyrrolic N in binding energy of 400.0 eV served as the dominant chemical species. Most importantly, different from diatomite, only a weak peak located at 101 eV, which associated to the SiC bond, can be observed in the high-resolution Si 2p XPS spectra of p-CoSi 1 N 3 @D (Figure S13, Supporting Information).…”

Recent Advances in Non‐Precious Metal Single‐Atom Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Low‐Temperature Polymer‐Electrolyte Fuel Cells

“…In the AEMFC conditions with PBC/900/M catalyst on the cathode, P max of 658 mW cm À 2 was reached, but more importantly the fuel cell showed excellent stability with current loss of ca 16 % after 100 h of constant operation. [163] This shows that highly active and stable SACs can also be prepared from waste materials using a rather simple synthesis route.…”

“…Most commonly used methods for producing SACs rely on the usage of sacrificial metal to prevent agglomeration of metal species, e. g. Zn in ZIF-8. In contrast to the usual careful building of SACs, Lee et al [163] synthesised Fe-SACs using waste material, namely iron-rich pig blood, as a precursor for FeÀ N x active sites and combined it with thermally exfoliated graphene oxide using short heat-treatment under NH 3 conditions. The bestperforming material (PBC/900/M catalyst) contained 1.5 wt% iron, which was well distributed as atomically dispersed sites as per STEM study (Figure 13a) and further analysis with XAS indicated that Fe was coordinated with nitrogen atoms (Figure 13b) with a coordination number of 4.…”

Biomass‐Derived Carbon‐Based Multicomponent Integration Catalysts for Electrochemical Water Splitting

“…[72][73][74] Biomass resources include all living organisms (animal, plant and microorganism) and their subsidiary products. Biomass resources from animal and microorganism include feather, shell, cell or metabolic waste, whose main components are protein, [75][76][77] lipid [78] and mineral. [79][80][81][82] Biomass resources of plant include fruit, leave and flower, whose main components are cellulose, [83][84][85] pectin [86][87][88][89] and lignin.…”