Premium
Facile Synthesis of Fe/N/S‐Doped Carbon Tubes as High‐Performance Cathode and Anode for Microbial Fuel Cells
Author(s) -
Yang Wei,
Li Jun,
Lan Linghan,
Li Zhuo,
Wei Wenli,
Lu Jia En,
Chen Shaowei
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
chemcatchem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.497
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1867-3899
pISSN - 1867-3880
DOI - 10.1002/cctc.201901084
Subject(s) - microbial fuel cell , anode , cathode , materials science , carbon fibers , aerogel , chemical engineering , electrochemistry , graphene , electrode , electron transfer , nanotechnology , chemistry , composite material , organic chemistry , composite number , engineering
As a renewable energy technology, microbial fuel cell (MFC) has been attracting increasing attention in recent decades. However, practical applications of MFCs has been hampered by the unsatisfactory electrode performance, in particular, at the cathode. Herein, Fe/N/S‐doped carbon hollow tubes were prepared by a facile two‐stage procedure involving hydrothermal treatment and pyrolysis at controlled temperatures. Electrochemical studies showed that the obtained samples exhibited an apparent electrocatalytic activity towards oxygen reduction reaction in both alkaline and acidic media, a performance comparable to that of commercial Pt/C, and the sample prepared at 800 °C stood out as the best among the series with a half‐wave potential of +0.81 V vs. RHE and an electron transfer number of 3.98 at +0.6 V vs. RHE. The Fe/N/S‐doped carbon tubes also exhibited a remarkable performance as an MFC anode by facilitating bacterial growth and electron transfer between the biofilm and electrode. In fact, an MFC based on the carbon tubes as both cathode and anode showed a markedly higher performance (maximum power density 479 W m −3 ) than the control MFC based on a graphene aerogel anode and Pt/C cathode (359 W m −3 ). These results suggest that Fe/N/S‐doped carbon composites can be used for the fabrication of high‐efficiency MFC electrodes.