Nitrogen-doped biochar derived from watermelon rind as oxygen reduction catalyst in air cathode microbial fuel cells

By Kengqiang Zhong, Meng Li, Yang Yue, Hongguo Zhang, Bopeng Zhang, Jinfeng Tang, Yan Jia, M. Su, Zhiquan Yang. Applied Energy, 2019

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Abstract Cathodic electrocatalyst is critical to the performance of microbial fuel cells. Developing cost-effective and efficient catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction is therefore an important step towards wider application of microbial fuel cells. Herein, we report a cost-effective and environment-friendly strategy for synthesis of nitrogen-doped hierarchically porous carbon with watermelon rind as a nitrogen-rich and high stability precursor and the biochar is used as cathode catalyst in air cathode microbial fuel cells. In this study, the pyrolysis derivative, WRC-700, achieves a current density of redox peak of 0.19 mA cm−2, which is comparable to the Pt/C catalyst. There are more C N bonds and higher concentrations of pyridinic nitrogen and graphitic nitrogen in the carbon framework of WRC-700 catalyst resulting in an outstanding electrochemical active area of 658.90 m2 g−1, functioning through a four-electron pathway toward oxygen reduction reaction process. The charge transfer resistance of 20.63 Ω is achieved by WRC-700 cathode, which is slightly smaller than Pt/C cathode (37.56 Ω). With experimental validation, we find that carbon from watermelon rind biomass can be considered as a superior alternative to non-metal catalyst in microbial fuel cell applications and envisage an enhanced power output from microbial fuel cells using the catalyst-modified cathodes.

Subfields: Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/47dc9fcb8afbf25e20a42d088a919b34643f7141