Microbial cathode catalysts

Fuel cell applications Manganese dioxide as a new cathode catalyst in microbial fuel cells [118] OMS-2 catalysts in proton exchange membrane fuel cell applications [119] An improved cathode for alkaline fuel cells [120] Nanostructured manganese oxide as a cathodic catalyst for enhanced oxygen reduction in a microbial fuel cell [121] Carbon-supported tetragonal MnOOH catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline media [122]... 

Manganese dioxide as a new cathode catalyst in microbial fuel cells. Journal of Power Sources, 195, 2586-2591. 

From an application viewpoint. Some of best application of carbon nanofibers include ACNF as anodes in lithium-ion battery. Organic removal from waste water using, ACNF as cathode catalyst or as anodes for microbial fuel ceUs (MFCs), Electrochemical properties of ACNF as an electrode for supercapacitors. Adsorption of some toxic industrial solutions and air pollutants on ACNF [108-120]. 

A new group of fuel cell is microbial fuel cells (MFCs), which is a novel technology that produces electricity using bacteria as electrocatalysts. The performance of MFCs is influenced by the type of electrode, the electrode distance, the type and surface area of their membrane, their substrate and their microorganisms. The most common catalyst used in cathodes is platinum (Pt). Ghasemi et al. applied chemically and physically activated carbon nanofibers as an alternative cathode catalyst to platinum in a two-chamber microbial fuel cell for the first time [155]. 

Ghasemi, M., et al., (2011). Activated carbon nanofibers as an alternative cathode catalyst to platinum in a two-chamber microbial fuel cell. International Journal of Hvdrofren Rnerw. 36. 13746-13752. 

As shown in Fig. 15.17, Kim et al. studied various cathode catalysts for oxygen reduction in microbial fuel cells that contained culture media prepared with 1 g sodium acetate solution in 50 mM phosphate buffer containing 12.5 mL mineral solution and 5 mL L vitamin solution [95]. Carbon-supported FePc showed similar ORR activity as the carbon powder, which had more than... 

Ahmed J, Yuan Y, Zhou L, Kim S (2012) Carbon supported cobalt oxide nanoparticles-iron phthalocyanine as alternative cathode catalyst for oxygen reduction in microbial fuel cells. J Power Sources 208 170-175... 

Selembo, P.A., Merrill, M.D., and Logan, B.E. (2010) Hydrogen production with nickel powder cathode catalysts in microbial electrolysis cells. Int.J. Hydrogen Energy, 35 (2), 428-437. 

Power densities using different cathode catalysts (Pt and CoTMPP) and polymer binders (Nafion and PTFE) in single chamber microbial fuel cells. Environ. Sci. Technol., 40 (1), 364-369. 

Zhang L, Liu C, Zhuang L, Li W, Zhou S, Zhang J. Manganese dioxide as an alternative cathodic catalyst to platinnm in microbial fuel cells. Biosens Bioelectron 2009 24(9) 2825-2829. 

Dendrimer-encapsulated nanoparticles have potential applications in the energy sector. For example, polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer-encapsulated platinum nanoparlicles (Pt-DENs) have been introduced as a promising cathode catalyst for air-cathode single-chamber microbial fuel cells (SCMFCs) [64], This novel catalyst led to higher power production with 129.1%, as compared to cathodes with electrodeposited Pt. 

Wang L, Chen Y, Ye Y, Lu B, Zhu S, Shen S (2011) Evaluation of low-cost cathode catalysts for high yield biohydrogen production in microbial electrolysis cell. Water Sci Technol 63(3) 440-448. doi 10.2166/wst.2011.241... 

HaoYu, E., Cheng, S., Scott, K. Logan, B. Microbial fuel-cell performance with non-Pt cathode catalysts. J. Power Sources 171 (2007), pp. 275-281. 

Saito, T., Roberts, T.H., Long, T.E., Logan, B.E. Hickner, M.A. Neutral hydrophilic cathode catalyst binders for microbial fuel-cells. Energy Environ. Sci. 4 (2011), pp. 928-934. 

Wang, X, Liang, P., Zhang, J., and Huang, X. (2011) Activity and stability of pyrolyzed iron ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid as cathode catalyst in microbial fuel cells. Bioresource Technology, 102 (8), 5093-5097. 

Wang, X., Cheng, S., Zhang, X., Li, X.-Y., and Logan, B.E. (2011) Impact of salinity on cathode catalyst performance in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 36 (21), 13900-13906. 

Application of iron-based cathode catalysts in a microbial fuel cell. 

Yuan Y, Zhao B, Jeon Y, Zhong S, Zhou S, Kim S (2011) Iron phthalocyanine supported on amino-functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotube as an alternative cathodic oxygen catalyst in microbial fuel cells. Biores Technol 102(10) 5849-5854... 

Microbial electrocatalysis relies on microorganisms as catalysts for reactions occurring at electrodes. The microorganisms involved are able to transport electrons in and out of the cell, a process known as extracellular electron transfer (EET), and can catalyze both oxidation and reduction reactions [80, 81]. Their catalytic properties have been confirmed by the fact that they are able to lower the overpotentials (lower energy loss) at both anodes [82] and cathodes [56, 69], giving an increased performance of the system. Nevertheless, they cannot be considered as true catalysts since part of the substrate/electron donor is consumed for growth. 

Zhao, F., Hamisch, F., Schroder, U., Scholz, F., Bogdanoff, P., and Herrmann, I. (2005) Application of pyrolysed iron(II) phthalocyanine and GoTMPP based oxygen reduction catalysts as cathode materials in microbial fuel cells. Electrochem. Commun., 7 (12), 1405-1410. 

Lee HS, Torres Cl, Parameswaran P, Rittmann BE. Fate of H(2) in an upflow single-chamber microbial electrolysis cell using a metal-catalyst-free cathode. Environ Sci Technol 2009 43 7971-7976. 

Yang X, et al. Microbial fuel cell cathode with dendrimer encapsulated Pt nanoparticles as catalyst. J Power Sources 2011 196 10611-5. 

Biofilms, Electroactive, Fig. 5 Principles of the most abundant microbial bloelectrochemlcal systems (a) microbial fuel cells and (b) microbial electrosynthesis cells on the example of the H2 production. (Note Here the anodic and cathodic reactions are catalyzed by blofilms, yet as described in the text also other catalysts can be exploited)... 

Figure 9.1. Schematic of a microbial fuel cell. Bacteria oxidize organic compounds, electrons travel through microbial respiratory enzymes generating ATP for the cell. Electrons are then transferred extra-cellularly to the anode where they travel through the circuit to the cathode. At the cathode, electrons combine with protons generated by microbial respiration and ambient oxygen at the platinum catalyst to generate water.

The current density of a single-wall carbon nanotube sheet electrode, with infused platinum nanoparticles as the cathode in a microbial fuel cell, was approximately an order of magnitude higher than that with an e-beam-evapo-rated platinum cathode. The enhancement of catalytic activity can be associated with the increase of the catalyst surface area in the active cathode layer [61]. In another study, MFCs with carbon nanotube mat cathodes produced a maximum power density of 329 mW m , more than twice of that obtained with carbon cloth cathodes (151 mW m ) [62]. A similar twofold improvement was obtained by electrochemically depositing Pt nanoparticles on a CNT textile cathode for aqueous cathode MFCs, with only 19.3% Pt loading of a commercial Pt-coated carbon cloth cathode [63]. 

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