Kira Willy Bellard, Costa-Filho Daniel F, Zanata Cinthia R, de Alcantara Isabel M C, Bettini Jefferson, Souza Flávio L, Wender Heberton, Martins Cauê A
Institute of Physics, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, CP 549, 79070-900 Campo Grande, MS, Brazil.
Institute of Chemistry, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, CP 549, 79070-900 Campo Grande, MS, Brazil.
ACS Omega. 2025 May 7;10(19):19939-19949. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.5c01606. eCollection 2025 May 20.
Glyphosate, a widely used herbicide, poses significant environmental and health risks due to its persistence and potential toxicity. Existing mitigation methods often face challenges such as incomplete degradation or the generation of harmful byproducts, in addition to consuming energy to operate. Herein, we report the first demonstration of glyphosate being directly used as a fuel in a microfluidic fuel cell (μFC), enabling simultaneous energy generation and pollutant degradation. The μFC features a nickel-sputtered carbon paper (Ni/CP) anode and a metal-free carbon paper (CP) cathode. The sputtering process ensures the formation of well-dispersed, high-purity Ni nanoclusters, enhancing surface activity and catalytic performance with ultralow metal loading. Coupled with hypochlorous acid (HClO) reduction on the cathode, the μFC achieved a maximum power density of 0.18 mW cm and glyphosate conversion efficiencies exceeding 99% for diluted solutions (16.2 ppm) and 82% for concentrated solutions (29.6 ppm). High-performance liquid chromatography confirmed the degradation of glyphosate to levels below the World Health Organization's recommended limit of 0.9 mg L. Although additional research on the product of the μFC is necessary, this report on a membraneless μFC utilizing glyphosate as the sole energy source in a mixed-media environment shows energy recovery from an environmental pollutant under zero-bias conditions. This scalable, cost-effective system highlights the potential of integrating advanced nanostructured materials and electrochemical techniques for simultaneous pollutant removal and sustainable energy production.
草甘膦是一种广泛使用的除草剂，因其持久性和潜在毒性而对环境和健康构成重大风险。现有的缓解方法除了运行需要消耗能源外，还常常面临诸如降解不完全或产生有害副产物等挑战。在此，我们首次展示了草甘膦在微流控燃料电池（μFC）中直接用作燃料，实现了同时发电和污染物降解。该μFC具有溅射镍的碳纸（Ni/CP）阳极和无金属碳纸（CP）阴极。溅射过程确保形成分散良好、高纯度的镍纳米团簇，以超低的金属负载量提高表面活性和催化性能。与阴极上的次氯酸（HClO）还原相结合，该μFC对于稀释溶液（16.2 ppm）实现了0.18 mW cm的最大功率密度和超过99%的草甘膦转化效率，对于浓缩溶液（29.6 ppm）则为82%。高效液相色谱法证实草甘膦降解至低于世界卫生组织推荐限值0.9 mg L的水平。尽管有必要对μFC的产物进行进一步研究，但这份关于在混合介质环境中利用草甘膦作为唯一能源的无膜μFC的报告显示了在零偏置条件下从环境污染物中回收能量。这种可扩展、具有成本效益的系统突出了整合先进纳米结构材料和电化学技术以同时去除污染物和实现可持续能源生产的潜力。
