Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, 247667, India.
Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar, 140001, India.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2022 Nov;29(53):80787-80804. doi: 10.1007/s11356-022-21437-x. Epub 2022 Jun 21.
Microbial fuel cells (SC-MFCs) have emerged as green energy devices to resolve the growing energy and environmental crisis. However, the technology's application depends on the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) kinetics. Among the electrocatalysts explored, transition metal-nitrogen-carbon composites exhibit satisfactory ORR activity. Herein, we investigate the performance of copper-nitrogen-carbon (Cu/NC) electrocatalysts for ORR, highlighting the effect of temperature, role of nitrogen functionalities, and Cu-N sites in catalyst performance. Cu/NC-700 demonstrated satisfactory ORR activity with an onset potential of 0.7 V (vs. RHE) and a limiting current density of 3.4 mA cm. Cu/NC-700 modified MFC exhibited a maximum power density of 489.2 mW m, higher than NC-700 (107.3 mW m). These observations could result from synergistic interaction between copper and nitrogen atoms, high density of Cu-N sites, and high pyridinic-N content. Moreover, the catalyst exhibited superior stability, implying its use in long-term operations. The electrocatalytic performance of the catalyst suggests that copper-doped carbon catalysts could be potential metal-nitrogen-carbon material for scaled-up MFC applications.
微生物燃料电池 (SC-MFC) 作为绿色能源装置已经出现，以解决日益增长的能源和环境危机。然而，该技术的应用取决于氧气还原反应 (ORR) 缓慢的动力学。在探索的电催化剂中，过渡金属-氮-碳复合材料表现出令人满意的 ORR 活性。在此，我们研究了铜-氮-碳 (Cu/NC) 电催化剂对 ORR 的性能，重点研究了温度、氮官能团的作用以及催化剂性能中 Cu-N 位的作用。Cu/NC-700 表现出令人满意的 ORR 活性，起始电位为 0.7 V（相对于 RHE），极限电流密度为 3.4 mA cm。Cu/NC-700 修饰的 MFC 表现出的最大功率密度为 489.2 mW m，高于 NC-700（107.3 mW m）。这些观察结果可能是由于铜和氮原子之间的协同相互作用、高浓度的 Cu-N 位和高吡啶-N 含量所致。此外，该催化剂表现出优异的稳定性，表明其可用于长期运行。该催化剂的电催化性能表明，铜掺杂碳催化剂可能是用于规模化 MFC 应用的潜在金属-氮-碳材料。
