Microbial fuel cell catalyst

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. 

In microbial fuel cells living microorganisms serve as bio catalysts for the conversion of chemical energy to electricity. Since the majority of microorganisms are electrochemically inactive some early microbial fuel cells required the use of artificial electron-shuttling com-... 

The combination of favorable properties of PANI and TiO opens the possibility for various applications of PANI/TiO nanocomposite materials, such as piezoresistivity devices [41], electrochromic devices [99,118], photoelectrochemical devices [43,76], photovoltaic devices/solar cells [44,50,60,61,93,119], optoelectronic devices/UV detectors [115], catalysts [80], photocatalysts [52,63,74,75,78,84,87,97,104,107,121,122,125], photoelectrocatalysts [122,123], sensors [56,61,65,69,85,86,95,120,124], photoelectrochemical [110] and microbial fuel cells [71], supercapacitors [90,92,100,109,111], anode materials for lithium-ion batteries [101,102], materials for corrosion protection [82,113], microwave absorption materials [77,87,89], and electrorheological fluids [105,106]. In comparison with PANI, the covalently bonded PANI/TiO hybrids showed significant enhancement in optical contrast and coloration efficiency [99]. It was observed that the TiO nanodomains covalently bonded to PANI can act as electron acceptors, reducing the oxidation potential and band gap of PANI, thus improving the long-term electrochromic stability [99]. Colloidal... 

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. 

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... 

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... 

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. 

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. 

Schaetzle O, Barriere F, Baronian K. Bacteria and yeasts as catalysts in microbial fuel cells electron transfer from micro-organisms to electrodes for green electricity. Energy Environ Sci 2008 1 607-620. 

The successful application of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and bioelectrochemical systems (BBSs) requires an understanding, and ultimately the optimization, of microbial activities associated with the bioelectrocatalytic conversion of chemical and electrical inputs. Researchers must always consider that MFC/BES reactors utilize living microorganisms to drive catalytic activity, and these microbes will respond to system changes in different ways than abiotic catalysts. 

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. 

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 4.45. Cyclic voltammogram of 1 M formate (A) and lactate (B) on WC/graphite foil electrode at pH 5 in 0.1 M KCl at 293 K. Catalyst load 20 mg cm. The electrode potential is given vs. Ag/AgCl (SSCE.) Inset figures show the eurrent density measured at 0.2 V vs. SSCE as a function of anolyte concentration [217]. Dashed curve = blank electrolyte, solid curve = electrolyte with formate (A) or lactate (B). (Reproduced from Applied Catalysis B Environmental, 74(3-4), Rosenbaum M, Zhao F, Quaas M, WulffH, Schroder U, Scholz F, Evaluation of catalytic properties of tungsten carbide for the anode of microbial fuel cells, 261-9, 2007, with permission from Elsevier.)...

At one of the electrodes at least, the catalyst for the electrochemical reaction are microorganisms (microbial fuel cells) or enzymes (enzymatic fuel cells). 

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.

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. 

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]. 

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. 

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