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Development and application of vanadium oxide/polyaniline composite as a novel cathode catalyst in microbial fuel cell
Author(s) -
Ghoreishi Khadijeh Beigom,
Ghasemi Mostafa,
Rahimnejad Mostafa,
Yarmo Mohd Ambar,
Daud Wan Ramli Wan,
Asim Nilofar,
Ismail Manal
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
international journal of energy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.808
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1099-114X
pISSN - 0363-907X
DOI - 10.1002/er.3082
Subject(s) - polyaniline , cyclic voltammetry , cathode , vanadium oxide , catalysis , materials science , linear sweep voltammetry , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , vanadium , faraday efficiency , chemical engineering , oxide , scanning electron microscope , nanocomposite , inorganic chemistry , chemistry , electrochemistry , nanotechnology , composite material , polymer , organic chemistry , electrode , polymerization , metallurgy , engineering
SUMMARY Polyaniline (Pani), vanadium oxide (V 2 O 5 ), and Pani/V 2 O 5 nanocomposite were fabricated and applied as a cathode catalyst in Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) as an alternative to Pt (Platinum), which is a commonly used expensive cathode catalyst. The cathode catalysts were characterized using Cyclic Voltammetry and Linear Sweep Voltammetry to determine their oxygen reduction activity; furthermore, their structures were observed by X‐ray Diffraction, X‐ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, and Field‐Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy. The results showed that Pani/V 2 O 5 produced a power density of 79.26 mW/m 2 , which is higher than V 2 O 5 by 65.31 mW/m 2 and Pani by 42.4 mW/m 2 . Furthermore, the Coulombic Efficiency of the system using Pani/V 2 O 5 (16%) was higher than V 2 O 5 and Pani by 9.2 and 5.5%, respectively. Pani–V 2 O 5 also produced approximately 10% more power than Pt, the best and most common cathode catalyst. It declares that Pani–V 2 O 5 can be a suitable alternative for application in a MFC system. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.