Improvement of activated carbons as oxygen reduction catalysts in neutral solutions by ammonia gas treatment and their performance in microbial fuel cells

Watson, Valerie; Nieto-Delgado, César; Logan, Bruce E.

doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2013.05.135

Cited by 90 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Heteroatoms breaks electro-neutrality of adjacent carbon atoms, creating complementary charged sites on which oxygen can be absorbed and reduced; thus demonstrating high-efficiency ORR catalytic activities [69]. Methods used to get AC doped with heteroatom include post-treatment of AC with heteroatoms dopants like ammonia [33] or using precursors containing heteroatoms [70] or activating agents for hydrothermal treatment or pyrolysis. Electron-donor properties of activated carbon can be improved by Phosphorus doping leading to an increased ORR catalytic activity as it can be witnessed in a research where MFC was inoculated by domestic wastewater and acetate used as substrate, they used AC treated with H 3 PO 4 (1 M) at 400°C as ORR catalyst and attained maximum power density of 1096 ± 33 mW/m 2 which was 55% higher than the benchmark.…”

Section: Methods For Modification Of Activated Carbon Catalyst Heteromentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One example showed that treatment of commercial activated carbons with ammonia increased nitrogen to 1.8 atomic % but left oxygen reduced by 29-58% due to decreased amount of acidic oxygen surface functional groups which significantly improved catalytic performance in neutral media as a result of increment of both number of electrons transferred and onset potentials [33]. Zhang et al [72] made N-doped AC using cyanamide as nitrogen source after 98% H 2 SO 4 and 3 M KOH pretreatment and resulted in a nitrogen content of 8.65% (atom %) (in which 5.56% is pyridinic-N) on its surface.…”

Section: Dopantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, a MFC well fitted with an AC cathode bonded with a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and the current collected by nickel brought about 1220 mWm −2 greater to 1060 mWm −2 achieved using a Pt catalyst cathode (0.5 mg-Pt cm −2 ) and a Nafion binder [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48] ) AC powder [50].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Enhancing Catalyst Efficiency of Activated Carbon for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Air Cathode Microbial Fuel Cell Application

Muhoza¹,

Ma²,

Kalakodio³

et al. 2017

Int J Waste Resour

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IntroductionMicrobial fuel cell (MFC) is a potential environmental friendly bioelectrochemical system as it combines treatment of organic wastes and electric energy generation [1][2][3][4]. In MFCs, the electrochemically active microorganisms' biofilm colonizes the anodic surface thus oxidizing organic pollutants producing electrons and protons. Electrons are transferred through an external circuit to the cathode where are received by the terminal electron acceptor while protons migrate through the membrane or solution to the cathode to keep electrical neutrality which creates potential difference [1,5]. Several applications of this technology such as hydrogen gas production [6], hydrogen peroxide generation [7], desalination [8][9][10], remote sensors and monitoring devices [11,12] metal recovery at cathode [13] and robots [12,14] to mention but few, have been studied and left researchers with more innovation ideas in the field. Having electrochemical processes catalyzed by biological processes in addition to some other design parameters such as engineering of microbial biofilm structure, decrypting electron transfer mechanisms, cell/reactor configuration, electrode materials and geometries, substrate concentration, retention time, and optimizing cathode catalysts [15,16] makes this system more sensitive to internal losses and gives it a certain level of complexity [17,18]. This and other challenges that are still unanswered are the bottlenecks for MFC application in real environment [15,19]. Therefore, current researches focus on limiting factors and ways to curb their effects thus increasing the performance [2,20,21]. Among others, is trying different MFC design configurations where MFC aircathode proved to more advantageous over double chamber for scaling up because of its simple structure, low cost and direct use oxygen in air, which could removes aeration from conventional wastewater treatment process [5,22]. Due to its high reduction potential and inexhaustible source, Oxygen is the most fairly used terminal electron acceptor and is considered to be competent for MFC air-cathode application and scale up as it plays a critical role in both organic oxidation and energy recovery at the cathode [23]. AbstractMicrobial fuel cell (MFC) air cathode present a great potential among other configurations due to its simple design, low cost and direct use oxygen from air as terminal electron acceptor which could help to save tremendous energy used for aeration in conventional wastewater treatment. However, at the cathode oxygen reduction reaction which is vital to generate high power density is naturally slow, therefore a catalyst is needed to overcome its reaction over-potential. Platinum (Pt) is the standard used catalyst in large number of oxidation reduction reactions whether in basic or acidic electrolytes. But, due to its high cost and limited resources it doesn't make it a sustainable candidate for scaling up of this juvenile technology. Activated carbon was found to be a low cost and environmental friendly Ox...

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Section: Methods For Modification Of Activated Carbon Catalyst Heteromentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Dopantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Enhancing Catalyst Efficiency of Activated Carbon for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Air Cathode Microbial Fuel Cell Application

Muhoza¹,

Ma²,

Kalakodio³

et al. 2017

Int J Waste Resour

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Watson i inni [7] przebadali szereg komercyjnie dostępnych węgli aktywowanych otrzymanych z węgla brunatnego, łupin orzecha kokosowego, twardego drewna oraz węgla bitumicznego, które zostały poddane działaniu gazowego amoniaku w temperaturze 700°C. Traktowanie amoniakiem spowodowało zmniejszenie zawartości tlenu do 29÷58% oraz wzrost zawartości azotu do 1,8% atomowych.…”

Section: Wstępunclassified

Nitrogen-doped Chitin Carbon Materials

Ilnicka

Łukaszewicz

2016

Eng. Prot. Environ.

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The large-scale practical application of fuel cells will be difficult to realize if the expensive platinum-based electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reactions (ORRs) cannot be replaced by other efficient, low-cost, and stable electrodes. This paper concerns nitrogencontaining carbon materials which can act as a metal-free potential new electrode material. Nitrogen-doped microporous carbons were fabricated by an original simple chemical activation method in which chitin and Na2CO3 were employed as the carbon precursor and activation agent, respectively. In addition, a couple of samples were synthesized with urea. The textural and chemical properties of the porous carbons could be easily controlled by changing the Na2CO3/chitin ratio and activation temperature. The microstructure and composition were extensively investigated by the elemental analysis, low temperature nitrogen sorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The resulting carbons show well-developed porosity and different amounts of nitrogen, depending on preparation conditions. It is found that the pyrolysis temperature yielded a considerable effect on the pore structure, elemental composition, and chemical configuration. Microporosity was the main contributor to the total pore volume for all carbons. Due to high pore volume, well-suited porosity and high nitrogen content (9.87 wt.%), these porous carbons may be applied as electrode material for oxygen reduction reaction. The presented exceptional features such as simple and convenient preparation procedure, easily obtained raw materials (chitin), and low cost, makes that new nitrogen-doped activated carbons are promising materials for microbial fuel cells.

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“…Literatura dostarcza opisu szeregu innych prekursorów, jak białka roślinne, białka zwierzęce, szkielety roślin, fragmenty roślin, żelatyna, ości ryb czy łupiny orzecha kokosowego itp. [48][49][50]. Jak dotychczas, użycie tych prekursorów ma charakter jednostkowy dla poszczególnych wymienionych materiałów, dlatego też nie jest możliwe przygotowanie raportu o aktualnym stanie badań jak w przypadku chitozanu.…”

Section: Chitozanunclassified

Chitosan in the Synthesis of Nitrogen-doped Activated Carbons - Recent Achievements

Ilnicka

Wasiniak

Łukaszewicz

2016

Eng. Prot. Environ.

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The paper reviews several methods for the preparation of chitosan-originated nitrogenrich activated carbons N_AC. The review considers the historical aspect of the synthesis development including the first scientific paper and patent application in this field. The relationship between the method for N_AC manufacturing from chitosan and their textural properties as surface area, total pore volume, and the nature of the porosity is presented. The influence of the N_AC obtaining method on the nitrogen content in the carbons is discussed, too. Identified potential applications of chitosan-originated N_ACs are described in relation to their basic physical and chemical properties.

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Improvement of activated carbons as oxygen reduction catalysts in neutral solutions by ammonia gas treatment and their performance in microbial fuel cells

Cited by 90 publications

References 32 publications

Enhancing Catalyst Efficiency of Activated Carbon for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Air Cathode Microbial Fuel Cell Application

Enhancing Catalyst Efficiency of Activated Carbon for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Air Cathode Microbial Fuel Cell Application

Nitrogen-doped Chitin Carbon Materials

Chitosan in the Synthesis of Nitrogen-doped Activated Carbons - Recent Achievements

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