Assembly of coupled redox fuel cells using copper as electron acceptors to generate power and its in-situ retrieval

Abstract

Energy extraction from waste has attracted much interest nowadays. Herein, a coupled redox fuel cell (CRFC) device using heavy metals, such as copper, as an electron acceptor is assembled to testify the recoveries of both electricity and the precious metal without energy consumption. In this study, a NaBH4-Cu(II) CRFC was employed as an example to retrieve copper from a dilute solution with self-electricity production. The properties of the CRFC have been characterized, and the open circuit voltage was 1.65 V with a maximum power density of 7.2 W m−2 at an initial Cu2+ concentration of 1,600 mg L−1 in the catholyte. 99.9% of the 400 mg L−1 copper was harvested after operation for 24 h, and the product formed on the cathode was identified as elemental copper. The CRFC demonstrated that useful chemicals were recovered and the electricity contained in the chemicals was produced in a self-powered retrieval process.

Electrochemistry and microbiology of microbial fuel cells treating marine sediments polluted with heavy metals

“…Many previous studies reported SEM images of electrode biofilms. 33 However, very few studies have reported the presence of filamentous appendages in the biofilms of electrodes. Many factors can be the cause of this contradiction.…”

Electrochemical Behavior and Electronucleation of Copper Nanoparticles from CuCl2·2H2O Using a Choline Chloride-Urea Eutectic Mixture

“…Copper nanoparticles (Cu-NPs) are of great interest for applications in many engineering fields, including electronics, energy, catalyst, environment, and agriculture, owing to their natural abundance, low cost, and diversity of preparation methods [1,2]. Some (typical) examples can be mentioned such as the use of Cu-NPs in sensors [3], fuel cell, and solar cell [4,5] and in conductive inks for printed electronics [6]. In agriculture, Cu-NPs have also shown important effect in regulating plant growth and development and increasing chlorophyll formation and seed production [7].…”

Electrochemical recovery of metal copper in microbial fuel cell using graphene oxide/polypyrrole cathode catalyst

“…However, obtained OCP for GO/PPy cathode with 1000 mg/L Cu 2+ solution was much improved than 540 mV reported by Tao et al, 2011a 32 . The greater initial Cu 2+ ion concentration can provide extra electron acceptors that advance the MFC performance in terms of OCP 56 …”

“…The GO/PPy cathode catalyst electrode with 1000 mg/L Cu 2+ solution shows the higher OCP as compared to other sets. The literature reports the 0.65 V OCP for 400 mg/L Cu 2+ concentration but with 1 M KOH solution 56 . However, obtained OCP for GO/PPy cathode with 1000 mg/L Cu 2+ solution was much improved than 540 mV reported by Tao et al, 2011a 32 .…”

“…32 The greater initial Cu 2+ ion concentration can provide extra electron acceptors that advance the MFC performance in terms of OCP. 56 OCP for basic graphite cathode was lower as compared to considered electrodes due to its greater charge transfer resistance. The improved performance of GO/PPy electrodes as compare to pure graphite with same concentrations and conditions suggest that the charge transfer along the polymer chain of GO/PPy was responsible for the higher OCP.…”