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Modification of PPy‐NW Anode by Carbon Dots for High‐performance Mini‐microbial Fuel Cells
Author(s) -
Li B.,
Zhao Z.,
Weng Z.,
Fang Y.,
Lei W.,
Zhu D.,
Jiang H.,
Bin Mohtar M. N.,
bin Abdul Halin I.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
fuel cells
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.485
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1615-6854
pISSN - 1615-6846
DOI - 10.1002/fuce.201900210
Subject(s) - anode , polypyrrole , materials science , microbial fuel cell , electrode , composite number , chemical engineering , carbon fibers , open circuit voltage , nanowire , polymerization , nanotechnology , composite material , voltage , chemistry , polymer , physics , quantum mechanics , engineering
To boost the performance of microbial fuel cells (MFCs), a novel material of polypyrrole nanowires (PPy‐NWs) modified by carbon dots (CDs) is synthesized by polymerizing pyrrole monomers and CDs, in which CDs are attached and distributed on the surface of the PPy‐NWs, thus leading to the rough surface with a special dot‐line structure. Such CDs/PPy‐NW composite with special unique structure exhibits superior properties, and excellent performance is found for MFC using CDs/PPy‐NW composite as anode. The electron transfer rate increases to 0.0934 s −1 with a sharp rise by 26% over pure PPy‐NWs, and the resistances of CDs/PPy‐NW electrode are only one third of those of pure PPy‐NWs electrode. Further, the mini‐MFC equipped with the CDs/PPy‐NW composite as anode exhibits a high open circuit voltage (630 mV) and its maximum power density with a value of 291.4 mW m −2 is twice that of the mini‐MFC equipped with pure PPy‐NWs anode. These results demonstrate CDs/PPy‐NW with a unique dot‐line structure as a more promising anode material for MFC application.