Catalysis kinetics and porous analysis of rolling activated carbon-PTFE air-cathode in microbial fuel cells.

The microbial fuel cell (MFC), being an environment-friendly technology for wastewater treatment, is limited by low efficiency and high cost. Power output based on capital cost had been greatly increased in our previous work by introducing a novel activated carbon (AC) air-cathode (ACAC). The catalysis behavior of this ACAC was studied here based on catalysis kinetics and pore analysis of both carbon powders and catalyst layers (CLs). Plain AC (AC1#), ultracapacitor AC (AC2#), and non-AC (XC-72) powders were used as catalysts. The electron transfer number (n) of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) with CLs increased by 5-23% compared to those n values of corresponding carbon powders before being rolled to CLs with PTFE, while the n value of Pt/C decreased by 38% when it was brushed with Nafion as the CL, indicating that rolling procedure with PTFE binder substantially increased the catalytic activity of carbon catalysts. Two-four times larger in micropore area of AC powders than non-AC powder resulted in 1.3-1.9 times increase in power density of MFCs. In addition, more uniform distribution of microporosity was found in AC1# than in AC2#, which could be the reason for the 25% increase in power density of ACAC1# (1355 ± 26 mW·m(-2)) compared to 1086 ± 8 mW·m(-2) of ACAC2#.

[1]  K. Sing Reporting physisorption data for gas/solid systems with special reference to the determination of surface area and porosity (Recommendations 1984) , 1985 .

[2]  Masahiro Watanabe,et al.  Experimental analysis of the reaction layer structure in a gas diffusion electrode , 1985 .

[3]  Yu Lei,et al.  Microbial Fuel Cells: The Effects of Configurations, Electrolyte Solutions, and Electrode Materials on Power Generation , 2010, Applied biochemistry and biotechnology.

[4]  Qixing Zhou,et al.  Carbon‐supported perovskite oxides as oxygen reduction reaction catalyst in single chambered microbial fuel cells , 2013 .

[5]  Willy Verstraete,et al.  Tubular microbial fuel cells for efficient electricity generation. , 2005, Environmental science & technology.

[6]  Xin Wang,et al.  Enhanced performance of activated carbon–polytetrafluoroethylene air-cathode by avoidance of sintering on catalyst layer in microbial fuel cells , 2013 .

[7]  Jun Chen,et al.  Rapid room-temperature synthesis of nanocrystalline spinels as oxygen reduction and evolution electrocatalysts. , 2011, Nature chemistry.

[8]  Zhang Cai,et al.  Bioelectrochemical stimulation of petroleum hydrocarbon degradation in saline soil using U‐tube microbial fuel cells , 2012, Biotechnology and bioengineering.

[9]  Hong Liu,et al.  Power generation in fed-batch microbial fuel cells as a function of ionic strength, temperature, and reactor configuration. , 2005, Environmental science & technology.

[10]  Uwe Schröder,et al.  Application of pyrolysed iron(II) phthalocyanine and CoTMPP based oxygen reduction catalysts as cathode materials in microbial fuel cells , 2005 .

[11]  Fang Zhang,et al.  Power generation using an activated carbon and metal mesh cathode in a microbial fuel cell , 2009 .

[12]  Chaiwat Engtrakul,et al.  Carbon nanotube modified air-cathodes for electricity production in microbial fuel cells , 2011 .

[13]  Jurg Keller,et al.  Non-catalyzed cathodic oxygen reduction at graphite granules in microbial fuel cells , 2007 .

[14]  Zhisheng Lv,et al.  Stainless steel mesh coated with MnO2/carbon nanotube and polymethylphenyl siloxane as low-cost and high-performance microbial fuel cell cathode materials , 2012 .

[15]  D. Park,et al.  Improved fuel cell and electrode designs for producing electricity from microbial degradation. , 2003, Biotechnology and bioengineering.

[16]  Korneel Rabaey,et al.  Conversion of Wastes into Bioelectricity and Chemicals by Using Microbial Electrochemical Technologies , 2012, Science.

[17]  E. Barrett,et al.  (CONTRIBUTION FROM THE MULTIPLE FELLOWSHIP OF BAUGH AND SONS COMPANY, MELLOX INSTITUTE) The Determination of Pore Volume and Area Distributions in Porous Substances. I. Computations from Nitrogen Isotherms , 1951 .

[18]  Baikun Li,et al.  Granular activated carbon single-chamber microbial fuel cells (GAC-SCMFCs): A design suitable for large-scale wastewater treatment processes , 2009 .

[19]  Yujie Feng,et al.  Use of carbon mesh anodes and the effect of different pretreatment methods on power production in microbial fuel cells. , 2009, Environmental science & technology.

[20]  Fei Zhang,et al.  Nitrogen‐Enriched Core‐Shell Structured Fe/Fe3C‐C Nanorods as Advanced Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction , 2012, Advanced materials.

[21]  Eric Chainet,et al.  Carbon-Supported Manganese Oxide Nanoparticles as Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR) in Alkaline Medium: Physical Characterizations and ORR Mechanism , 2007 .

[22]  Han-Qing Yu,et al.  Nano-structured manganese oxide as a cathodic catalyst for enhanced oxygen reduction in a microbial fuel cell fed with a synthetic wastewater. , 2010, Water research.

[23]  Jalal Ahmed,et al.  Carbon supported cobalt oxide nanoparticles–iron phthalocyanine as alternative cathode catalyst for oxygen reduction in microbial fuel cells , 2012 .

[24]  B. Logan,et al.  Graphite fiber brush anodes for increased power production in air-cathode microbial fuel cells. , 2007, Environmental science & technology.

[25]  B. Logan,et al.  Development and evaluation of carbon and binder loading in low-cost activated carbon cathodes for air-cathode microbial fuel cells , 2012 .

[26]  Javier Pérez-Ramírez,et al.  Pore size determination in modified micro- and mesoporous materials. Pitfalls and limitations in gas adsorption data analysis , 2003 .

[27]  K. Scott,et al.  Effect of chemically modified Vulcan XC-72R on the performance of air-breathing cathode in a single-chamber microbial fuel cell. , 2010, Bioresource technology.

[28]  Feng Zhao,et al.  Techniques for the study and development of microbial fuel cells: an electrochemical perspective. , 2009, Chemical Society reviews.

[29]  N. Ren,et al.  Power generation using adjustable Nafion/PTFE mixed binders in air-cathode microbial fuel cells. , 2010, Biosensors & bioelectronics.

[30]  Haluk Beyenal,et al.  Scaling up microbial fuel cells. , 2008, Environmental science & technology.

[31]  Jun Chen,et al.  Selective synthesis of manganese oxide nanostructures for electrocatalytic oxygen reduction. , 2009, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[32]  Hongbing Yu,et al.  A novel structure of scalable air-cathode without Nafion and Pt by rolling activated carbon and PTFE as catalyst layer in microbial fuel cells. , 2012, Water research.