Biomass-derived N-doped porous activated carbon as a high-performance and cost-effective pH-universal oxygen reduction catalyst in fuel cell. (30th October 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Jianting; Wei, Liling; Wang, Huiqiang; Lan, Gongjia; Yang, Haijun; Shen, Jianquan
• Is Part Of: International journal of hydrogen energy. Volume 45:Number 53(2020)
• Page Start: 29308
• Page End: 29321
• Publication Date: 2020-10-30
• Subjects: Tofu gel -- Carbonization temperature -- N-doped porous activated carbon -- Oxygen reduction reaction -- Microbial fuel cell; Hydrogen as fuel -- Periodicals; Hydrogène (Combustible) -- Périodiques; Hydrogen as fuel; Periodicals; 665.81
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.07.216
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0360-3199

Abstract

Abstract: Nitrogen (N) doped porous activated carbons (TGC-T) derived from tofu gel are prepared through a facile, economic and eco-friendly method. The as-prepared TGC-900 possesses high specific surface area (651.78 m 2 g −1 ) and homogeneous doping N (Content of N: 5.52 at.%). Reasonably, TGC-900 exhibits excellent oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity, stability and methanol resistance in neutral, alkaline and acidic medium. Moreover, TGC-900 also shows outstanding ORR performance in the application of microbial fuel cell (MFC) with the highest output voltage (544 ± 6 mV) and maximum power density (977 ± 32 mW m −2 ). Inspiringly, four single-chamber air cathode MFCs (AC-MFCs) in series can drive a light-emitting diode (LED) to work is firstly reported which further provides a more intuitively method to evaluate the performance of generating electricity for MFCs. Thus, the high performance and cost-effective ORR catalyst TGC-900 is expected to apply in the field of fuel cells. Graphical abstract: Tofu gel-derived nitrogen-doped porous activated carbon TGC-900 possesses excellent ORR electrocatalytic activity in neutral, alkaline and acidic medium. Image 1 Highlights: The carbonization temperature pays a significant role in TGC-T. TGC-900 has excellent ORR activities in neutral, alkaline and acidic medium. TGC-900 exhibits excellent ORR performance in MFCs.