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Promoted activity of nitrogen-doped activated carbon as a highly efficient oxygen reduction catalyst in microbial fuel cells

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Abstract

Despite the wide application of activated carbon (AC) as cathode electrocatalyst in microbial fuel cell (MFC), the enhancement of its catalytic activity is crucial to reduce its high loading on air-cathode. Herein, we synthesize nitrogen-doped activated carbon (NAC) by pyrolyzing phthalocyanine (Pc) adsorbed on AC to develop an efficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst. The optimized mass ratio of AC to Pc improves the crystalline structure and porous structure of the NAC. Elemental analysis indicates that this material contains appropriate content of pyrrolic and pyridinic types of nitrogen and oxygen species. The NAC shows an ORR onset potential of 0.468 V (vs. Standard hydrogen electrode), an electron transfer number of 3.90, and high electrochemically accessible surface area, thereby illustrating enhanced electrocatalytic activity in the neutral medium relative to alkali-treated activated carbon (b-AC) and commercial platinum catalyst. Owing to the high activity, a small amount of NAC with a loading of 15 mg cm− 2 on the air-cathode of MFC is sufficient to achieve the maximum power density of 1026.07 ± 10.83 mW m− 2, which is higher than that of b-AC and comparable to platinum catalyst. The reduced loading of NAC indicates that the material can be used as cathode electrocatalyst for the ongoing effort to scale up MFC in the future.

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Abbreviations

AC:

Activated carbon

BET:

Brunauer–Emmett–Teller

BJH:

Barrett–Joyner–Halenda

CE:

Coulombic efficiency

COD:

Chemical oxygen demand

CV:

Cyclic voltammetry

ECSA:

Electrochemical accessible surface area

LSV:

Linear sweep voltammetry

MFC:

Microbial fuel cell

MPD:

Maximum power density

NAC:

Nitrogen-doped activated carbon

OCV:

Open-circuit voltage

ORR:

Oxygen reduction reaction

PBS:

Phosphate-buffered saline

Pc:

Phthalocyanine

PGMs:

Platinum group metals

RRDE:

Rotating ring-disk electrode

SEM:

Scanning electron microscopy

SHE:

Standard hydrogen electrode

XPS:

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

XRD:

X-ray diffraction

%H2O2 :

Yield percentage of H2O2 (%)

j 0 :

Exchange current density (mA cm− 2)

n :

Electron transfer number

η :

Overpotential (mV)

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51578526), the Chongqing Research Program of Basic Research and Frontier Technology (No. cstc2015jcyjBX0063), and by Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing (No. cstc2018jcyjAX0327), and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. 2016341).

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  1. Key Laboratory of Reservoir Aquatic Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing, China

    Yuan Liu & Zhi-Mei Liu

  2. Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing, 400714, China

    Yuan Liu & Zhi-Mei Liu

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Correspondence to Yuan Liu.

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Liu, Y., Liu, ZM. Promoted activity of nitrogen-doped activated carbon as a highly efficient oxygen reduction catalyst in microbial fuel cells. J Appl Electrochem 49, 119–133 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10800-018-1263-6

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