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Effect of nitrogen doping on the catalytic activity of carbon nano-onions for the oxygen reduction reaction in microbial fuel cells

2019; Elsevier BV; Volume: 81; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.jiec.2019.09.014

1876-794X

Thi Hiep Han, Debananda Mohapatra, Neelima Mahato, Smrutiranjan Parida, Jun Ho Shim, Anh Thi Nguyet Nguyen, Van Quang Nguyen, Moo Hwan Cho, Jae‐Jin Shim,

Microbial Fuel Cells and Bioremediation

In this study, highly graphitic nitrogen-doped carbon nano-onions (N-CNOs) were prepared by a one-step, direct, in situ flame synthesis technique and their potential applications as catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in a microbial fuel cell (MFC) were evaluated for the first time. The ORR activity of the CNO, N-CNO, and the commercial Pt/C were measured using a rotating ring-disk electrode (RRDE). The reaction mechanism for the N-CNO was found to follow a four-electron transfer pathway and possess a higher onset potential in RRDE measurement than CNOs. The ORR activity of N-CNO was 5.4 times better than that of CNO, which was attributed to the introduction of nitrogen to the carbon faramework. The MFC fabricated with the N-CNO cathode produced a maximum power density of 49.6 mW m–2, which was approximately double the performance of the CNO-based MFC. The performance of N-CNO was low compared to Pt/C but the cost per power was only 1/310th. These results confirmed that N-CNOs could be used as a low-cost alternative and an energy-efficient metal-free ORR catalyst for practical MFC applications.