Synthesis of Iron and Phosphorous‐Embedded Nitrogen‐Containing Porous Carbon as an Efficient Electrocatalyst for Microbial Fuel Cells

Abstract

Efficient and stable electrocatalysts are required for microbial fuel cells (MFCs). They must be accessible to realize industrialization. Herein, a hierarchically porous phosphorus and ironembedded nitrogen-containing carbon (P/Fe-SS) was synthesized with shrimp shells as a carbon matrix via a facile oxidation pretreatment and pyrolysis process, where FeCl 3 and H 3 PO 4 were used as the catalyst and activator, respectively. Meanwhile, both of them acted as the doping sources to induce more active sites. The optimal pyrolysis temperature (900 °C) introduced a large specific surface area (857 m 2 /g) and hierarchical pores, facilitating the exposure of active sites. Furthermore, the presence of pyridinic-N and Fe/P active sites endowed P/Fe-SS 900 with excellent activity during the oxygen reduction reaction process. In particular, P/Fe-SS 900 showed higher long-term stability and poisoning resistance than those of Pt/C. When P/ Fe-SS 900 was applied as an air cathode in a MFC, its maximum power density reached 96.7 % of that of Pt/C. These results provide a promising alternative to Pt/C for MFC application due to their low cost, accessibility, and high stability.

Exploring a new clean technology in renewable energy production: The system design of Aloe vera-based plant microbial fuel cells

“…Negative current density values observed in LSV tests typically signify diffusion current limitation, with this study reaching a value of approximately -35 µA/cm2. Notably, this value is considerably lower than the diffusion current density limit provided by commercial platinum catalysts (-6.15 mA/cm 2 ) commonly employed in MFC electrochemical reactions (Li et al 2021). It is pertinent to note that expressing current density with a negative sign elucidates the electrochemical activity of the cathode electrode, while positive values denote the electrochemical activity of the anode electrode.…”

General Method for Synthesizing Effective and Durable Electrocatalysts Derived from Cellulose for Microbial Fuel Cells

“…At this regard, biomass resources have attracted more attention due to the inherent features of self-doping heteroatoms and special channels. For instance, the nitrogen-containing biomass was used as a precursor to prepare nitrogen-self-doped carbon catalysts with excellent ORR activities. , Moreover, the favorable structures of biomass-derived carbon can be fabricated via direct pyrolysis without additional templates, including 3D nanosheets, hollow tube, and hierarchical porosity . Nevertheless, most biomass sources exhibit the deficiency of inherent features owing to a high content of cellulose bundles, which hampers their application as carbon precursors.…”