School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China.
School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China; Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Ecosystem Restoration in Industry Clusters, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Biosens Bioelectron. 2015 Oct 15;72:332-9. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2015.05.035. Epub 2015 May 14.
Comparing with the precious metal catalysts, non-precious metal catalysts were preferred to use in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) due to the low cost and high oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) efficiency. In this study, the transmission electron microscope and X-ray diffraction as well as Raman investigation revealed that the prepared nanoscale NiO was attached on the surface of CNT. Cyclic voltammogram and rotating ring-disk electrode tests showed that the NiO/CNT composite catalyst had an apparent oxygen reduction peak and 3.5 electron transfer pathway was acquired under oxygen atmosphere. The catalyst performance was highly dependent on the percentage of NiO in the CNT nanocomposites. When 77% NiO/CNT nano-sized composite was applied as cathode catalyst in membrane free single-chamber air cathode MFC, a maximum power density of 670 mW/m(2) and 0.772 V of OCV was obtained. Moreover, the MFC with pure NiO (control) could not achieve more than 0.1 V. All findings suggested that NiO/CNT could be a potential cathode catalyst for ORR in MFCs.
与贵金属催化剂相比，由于成本低、氧还原反应（ORR）效率高，在微生物燃料电池（MFC）中更倾向于使用非贵金属催化剂。在这项研究中，透射电子显微镜、X 射线衍射和拉曼研究表明，所制备的纳米级 NiO 附着在 CNT 的表面。循环伏安法和旋转环盘电极测试表明，NiO/CNT 复合催化剂在氧气气氛下具有明显的氧还原峰和 3.5 个电子转移途径。催化剂性能高度依赖于 CNT 纳米复合材料中 NiO 的百分比。当 77%NiO/CNT 纳米复合材料作为无膜单室空气阴极 MFC 的阴极催化剂时，获得了 670 mW/m²的最大功率密度和 0.772 V 的开路电压。此外，使用纯 NiO（对照）的 MFC 无法超过 0.1 V。所有研究结果表明，NiO/CNT 可以成为 MFC 中 ORR 的潜在阴极催化剂。
