Wang Dongfang, Wu Chuanxuan, Zong Zhiqiang, Ye Jinghong, Wu Qingchuan, Li Ruohan, Zhou Benji, Xu He, Cai Dongqing
College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, People's Republic of China.
Key Laboratory of High Magnetic Field and Ion Beam Physical Biology, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, Anhui 230031, People's Republic of China.
Langmuir. 2022 Jul 26;38(29):9021-9029. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.2c01472. Epub 2022 Jul 14.
A fuel cell, an energy transducer, can convert chemical energy into electrical energy. In this work, graphite felt (GF) loaded with polypyrrole (PPy) and carboxylic carbon nanotubes (CNTs-COOH) was used as a cathode (GF/PPy/CNTs-COOH) in a double-chamber nonbiofuel cell (D-nBFC) to remove Cr(VI) efficiently. Therein, NaSO in an alkaline solution and Cr(VI) in a strongly acidic solution were employed as anode and cathode solutions, respectively. An agar salt bridge, consisting of saturated KCl solution, was used to transport ions between the anode and cathode. This system suggested that the removal efficiency of Cr(VI) could reach 99.6%. The maximum current, power, and power density could achieve 136.8 μA, 18.7 μW, and 20.8 mW/m at 90 min, respectively. Additionally, GF/PPy/CNTs-COOH also had good electrocatalytic stability and reusability after four cycles, which played an important role in the development of the D-nBFC system. Therefore, this study provides an environmentally friendly and efficient method to remove Cr(VI) and generate electricity simultaneously.
