Zhang Xueli, Jia Linhui, Liu Yu, Wang Ziqi, Qin Jumiao, Wang Qiuhong, Zhao Xiao, Zhong Ming, Lang Jianfeng, Xu Guangri, Wu Yanbing, Cui Chengxing
School of Resources and Environment, Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang 453000, China.
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang 453000, China.
Molecules. 2024 Nov 30;29(23):5675. doi: 10.3390/molecules29235675.
Microbial fuel cell (MFC) can degrade pesticide wastewater and recovery energy simultaneously, and the activated carbon (AC) air cathode has great prospects for practical application. However, insufficient active sites and the limitation of multi-step electron transfer for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) requires that AC should be modified by highly efficient electrocatalysts. Herein, busing the confinement effect of carbon-encapsulated metal and hollow carbon, we designed a unique ORR catalyst of Fe-FeO-NC through utilizing the 2D leaf-like nanoplates of Zn-ZIF-L to load Prussian blue (PB) particles. The volatilization of low-boiled Zn and the catalysis of iron compounds led to the formation of confined walls of hollow carbon shell and carbon-encapsulated Fe/FeO particles on N-doped carbon substrate. Multivalent iron, a large surface area (368.11 m·g), N doping, a heterojunction interface, and the confinement effect provided all the Fe-FeO-NC-modified AC air cathodes with excellent ORR activity. The optimal samples of AC-Fe-FeO-NC-3 achieved a peak power density of 1213.8 mW·m, demonstrating a substantial 82.8% increase over that of the bare AC. Furthermore, its efficiency in glyphosate removal reached 80.1%, surpassing the 23.2% of the bare AC. This study offers new ideas in constructing composite confined structures and the as-designed Fe-FeO-NC is a promising modification candidate for the commercial adoption of AC air cathodes.
微生物燃料电池（MFC）能够同时降解农药废水并回收能量，而活性炭（AC）空气阴极具有广阔的实际应用前景。然而，活性位点不足以及氧还原反应（ORR）多步电子转移的限制要求对AC进行高效电催化剂改性。在此，利用碳包覆金属和中空碳的限域效应，我们通过利用二维叶状的Zn-ZIF-L纳米片负载普鲁士蓝（PB）颗粒，设计了一种独特的ORR催化剂Fe-FeO-NC。低沸点Zn的挥发和铁化合物的催化作用导致在氮掺杂碳基底上形成中空碳壳和碳包覆Fe/FeO颗粒的限域壁。多价铁、大表面积（368.11 m²·g⁻¹）、N掺杂、异质结界面以及限域效应为所有Fe-FeO-NC改性的AC空气阴极提供了优异的ORR活性。AC-Fe-FeO-NC-3的最佳样品实现了1213.8 mW·m⁻²的峰值功率密度，比裸AC提高了82.8%。此外，其对草甘膦的去除效率达到80.1%，超过了裸AC的23.2%。本研究为构建复合限域结构提供了新思路，所设计的Fe-FeO-NC是AC空气阴极商业应用中有前景的改性候选材料。
