Water Pollution Research Department, National Research Centre, El-Tahrir St., Dokki, P.O. Box 12311, Cairo, Egypt.
Bioresour Technol. 2011 Nov;102(22):10459-64. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2011.08.123. Epub 2011 Sep 5.
This study focused on the use of spinel manganese-cobalt (Mn-Co) oxide, prepared by a solid state reaction, as a cathode catalyst to replace platinum in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) applications. Spinel Mn-Co oxides, with an Mn/Co atomic ratios of 0.5, 1, and 2, were prepared and examined in an air cathode MFCs which was fed with a molasses-laden synthetic wastewater and operated in batch mode. Among the three Mn-Co oxide cathodes and after 300 h of operation, the Mn-Co oxide catalyst with Mn/Co atomic ratio of 2 (MnCo-2) exhibited the highest power generation 113 mW/m2 at cell potential of 279 mV, which were lower than those for the Pt catalyst (148 mW/m2 and 325 mV, respectively). This study indicated that using spinel Mn-Co oxide to replace platinum as a cathodic catalyst enhances power generation, increases contaminant removal, and substantially reduces the cost of MFCs.
本研究专注于使用尖晶石锰钴（Mn-Co）氧化物作为阴极催化剂，通过固态反应来替代微生物燃料电池（MFC）中的铂。我们制备了具有 Mn/Co 原子比为 0.5、1 和 2 的尖晶石 Mn-Co 氧化物，并在以含蔗糖废水为底物、采用间歇运行模式的空气阴极 MFC 中对其进行了考察。在这三种 Mn-Co 氧化物阴极中，在运行 300 小时后，Mn/Co 原子比为 2 的 Mn-Co 氧化物催化剂（MnCo-2）在 279 mV 的电池电势下表现出最高的发电功率 113 mW/m2，低于 Pt 催化剂的相应值（148 mW/m2 和 325 mV）。本研究表明，使用尖晶石 Mn-Co 氧化物替代铂作为阴极催化剂可以提高发电效率、增加污染物去除率，并显著降低 MFC 的成本。
