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Performance of Cathode Catalysts for Bio-Electricity from Paper Recycling, Wastewater-Fed, Microbial Fuel Cells


Affiliations
1 Anna University, Center for Environmental Studies, Anna University, Sardar Patel Road, Guindy, Chennai 600 025, India
2 Center for Environmental Studies, Anna University, Sardar Patel Road, Guindy, Chennai 600 025, India
 

This work deals with the performance of a microbial fuel cell, focusing on the electrocatalytic activity of selected cathodes constructed by coating nanocomposites over graphite felt under neutral pH in a doublechamber configuration using paper-recycled waste water as a typical electrolyte. Among all cathodes, iron phthalocyanine (FePc) combined multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) shows the highest power density (9.34 W/m2) compared to other two catalysts, FePc/Ketjan black (4.68 W/m2) and MWCNT (2.9 W/m2) under similar conditions of using a reference platinum/carbon (Pt/C) loading of 0.5 mg/cm2. The morphology of these catalyst coated electrodes was characterized by scanning electron microscopy. Their electrocatalytic activities were examined using cyclic voltammetry. This work provides an appropriate alternative for cathode catalysts in treatment as well as in electricity production as demonstrated by the high power density of the above catalysts compared to that using precious Pt metal catalyst in microbial fuel cells.

Keywords

Iron Phthalocyanine, Microbial Fuel Cell, Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes, Oxygen Reduction Rate, Paper Recycling Wastewater.
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  • Performance of Cathode Catalysts for Bio-Electricity from Paper Recycling, Wastewater-Fed, Microbial Fuel Cells

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Authors

M. Radha
Anna University, Center for Environmental Studies, Anna University, Sardar Patel Road, Guindy, Chennai 600 025, India
S. Kanmani
Center for Environmental Studies, Anna University, Sardar Patel Road, Guindy, Chennai 600 025, India

Abstract


This work deals with the performance of a microbial fuel cell, focusing on the electrocatalytic activity of selected cathodes constructed by coating nanocomposites over graphite felt under neutral pH in a doublechamber configuration using paper-recycled waste water as a typical electrolyte. Among all cathodes, iron phthalocyanine (FePc) combined multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) shows the highest power density (9.34 W/m2) compared to other two catalysts, FePc/Ketjan black (4.68 W/m2) and MWCNT (2.9 W/m2) under similar conditions of using a reference platinum/carbon (Pt/C) loading of 0.5 mg/cm2. The morphology of these catalyst coated electrodes was characterized by scanning electron microscopy. Their electrocatalytic activities were examined using cyclic voltammetry. This work provides an appropriate alternative for cathode catalysts in treatment as well as in electricity production as demonstrated by the high power density of the above catalysts compared to that using precious Pt metal catalyst in microbial fuel cells.

Keywords


Iron Phthalocyanine, Microbial Fuel Cell, Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes, Oxygen Reduction Rate, Paper Recycling Wastewater.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv113%2Fi03%2F468-473