Influence of Chemical and Physical Properties of Activated Carbon Powders on Oxygen Reduction and Microbial Fuel Cell Performance

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

doi:10.1021/es401722j

Cited by 183 publications

(137 citation statements)

References 35 publications

(81 reference statements)

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“…In fact, it has been shown that i) surface chemistry, 22 ii) temperature treatment, 19,25 iii) pressure applied, 19 iv) AC loading, 22 v) content of binder (e.g. PTFE), 22 vi) addition of carbon black, 26 affect the cathode performances and the MFC output significantly. AC seems to be the cheapest and efficient solution to adopt for scaling up MFCs.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

High Performance Platinum Group Metal-Free Cathode Catalysts for Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC)

Kodali

Gokhale

Santoro

et al. 2016

J. Electrochem. Soc.

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The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at the cathode is usually the limiting step in microbial fuel cells and improvements have to be done to increase the performances and reduce the cost. For the first time, iron-based catalysts were synthesized utilizing the polymerization-pyrolysis method and tested successfully in neutral media and in working microbial fuel cells (MFCs). The catalysts were synthesized using polymerization, salt formation, mixed with iron salt and pyrolyzed at 850 • C (PABA-850) and 950 • C (PABA-950) respectively. To study the kinetics, electro-activity of the catalysts was investigated using rotating ring disk electrode (RRDE). Results showed that PABA-850 had higher catalytic activity compared to that of PABA-950. Both Fe-catalysts had much better activity compared to activated carbon (AC) used as a baseline. Catalysts were then integrated into air breathing cathodes (loading 1 mg cm −2 ) and tested in single chamber MFC. The power peak obtained was 178 ± 3 μWcm −2 for PABA-850. Comparable power was produced from PABA-950 (173 ± 3 μWcm −2 ). AC power output was 131 ± 4 μWcm −2 that was roughly 40% lower compared to Fe-based catalysts. Those results demonstrated that the addition of platinum group metal free (PGM-free) catalysts increased the output of the MFCs substantially. Fe-based catalysts seem to be suitable for large-scale MFC applications.

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confidence: 99%

High Performance Platinum Group Metal-Free Cathode Catalysts for Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC)

Kodali

Gokhale

Santoro

et al. 2016

J. Electrochem. Soc.

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“…The fact that with the utilization of half of the reactant (oxygen) amount double amount of electrons is transferred, a 4-electrons transfer pathway is targeted in all researches [56].…”

Section: Oxygen Reduction Reaction Kinetics On Mfc Cathodementioning

confidence: 99%

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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“…An especially interesting catalyst is activated carbon, which is low cost and has a high catalytic activity. However, the mechanism how the activated carbon catalyzes oxygen reduction remains unclear (Watson et al, 2013). Another difficulty in reducing the cost of cathodes is the requirement of a complex gas-liquid-solid threephase interface for oxygen reduction, which makes the selection of cathode material and design of cathode structure more challenging.…”

Section: Reducing Capital Costmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial fuel cells for energy production from wastewaters: the way toward practical application

Liu

Cheng

2014

J. Zhejiang Univ. Sci. A

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Abstract:Much energy is stored in wastewaters. How to efficiently capture this energy is of great significance for meeting the world's energy needs, reducing wastewater handling costs and increasing the sustainability of wastewater treatment. The microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a recently developed biotechnology for electrical energy recovery from the organic pollutants in wastewaters. MFCs hold great promise for sustainable wastewater treatment. However, at present there is still much research needed before the MFC technique can be practically applied in the real world. In this review, we analyze the opportunities and key challenges for MFCs to achieve sustainability in wastewater treatment. We especially discuss the problems and challenges for scaling up the MFC systems; this is the most critical issue for realizing the practical implementation of this technique. In order to achieve sustainability, MFCs may also be combined with other techniques to yield high effluent quality or to recover more commercial value (i.e., by producing energy-rich or high value chemicals) from wastewaters. However, research in this area is still on-going and many problems need to be settled before real-world application. Advances are required in respect of efficiency, economic feasibility, system stability, and reliability.

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Influence of Chemical and Physical Properties of Activated Carbon Powders on Oxygen Reduction and Microbial Fuel Cell Performance

Cited by 183 publications

References 35 publications

High Performance Platinum Group Metal-Free Cathode Catalysts for Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC)

High Performance Platinum Group Metal-Free Cathode Catalysts for Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC)

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

Microbial fuel cells for energy production from wastewaters: the way toward practical application

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