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Preparation of new ferroelectric Li 0.95 Ta 0.57 Nb 0.38 Cu 0.15 O 3 materials as photocatalysts in microbial fuel cells
Author(s) -
Louki Sami,
Touach Noureddine,
Benzaouak Abdellah,
SalarGarcía María José,
OrtizMartínez Víctor Manuel,
HernándezFernández Francisco José,
de los Ríos Antonia Pérez,
El Mahi Mohammed,
Lotfi El Mostapha
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
the canadian journal of chemical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1939-019X
pISSN - 0008-4034
DOI - 10.1002/cjce.23117
Subject(s) - materials science , analytical chemistry (journal) , differential scanning calorimetry , cathode , ferroelectricity , stoichiometry , power density , phase (matter) , chemical engineering , mineralogy , optoelectronics , chemistry , chromatography , organic chemistry , power (physics) , physics , quantum mechanics , dielectric , thermodynamics , engineering
A microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a device for both the generation of bioelectricity and the treatment of wastewater. However, its performance is affected by several parameters, and more particularly the materials used as the active phase at the cathode. In order to develop new, more efficient cathodes, two new non‐stoichiometric ferroelectric cathode materials are studied in this work. These electrodes have been synthesized according to two heat treatment modes (slow cooling and rapid cooling) from non‐stoichiometric ferroelectric materials with the formula Li 0.95 Ta 0.57 Nb 0.38 Cu 0.15 O 3 . The synthesized phases were characterized by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electronic microscopy (TEM), particle size distribution (PSD), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The main characteristics of these phases are the Curie temperatures, 1217 and 1197 °C, and the specific surfaces of 0.572 and 0.801 m 2 /g for the slow and rapid cooling phases, respectively. These materials were subsequently tested as photocathodes in a single chamber MFC in terms of the bioenergy production and wastewater treatment, by measuring the output power density and the rate of removal of COD in the presence of a light source. For the samples prepared by slow and rapid cooling, the values of maximum power density were 20.10 and 205.35 mW/m 3 , respectively. The COD removal rates were 74 and 80 %, respectively. Accordingly, the phase prepared by rapid cooling was shown to be more efficient in terms of power generation and wastewater treatment with a significant improvement in photocatalytic activity.