Kumar, Ravinder and Singh, Lakhveer and Zularisam, A. W. (2017) Mesoporous Co3O4 Nanoflakes as an Efficient and Non-Precious Cathode Catalyst for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Air-Cathode Microbial Fuel Cells. Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers, 78. pp. 329-336. ISSN 1876-1070. (Published)
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Abstract
Cobalt oxide is well known for its excellent oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity, however, its ORR activity can be further improved by synthesizing its porous architecture. Therefore, mesoporous Co 3 O 4 nanoflakes were prepared by a two-step hydrothermal method and were employed as the cathode cata- lyst in a double-chamber microbial fuel cell (MFC) to explore its ORR activity for electricity generation. The electrochemical tests suggested that addition of Co 3 O 4 nanoflakes enhanced the electrocatalytic ac- tivity of the cathode significantly. Besides, the cathode with a higher concentration of Co3O4 nanoflakes (COF-2) showed faster ORR kinetics as compared to the bare cathode. Evidently, COF-2 achieved an ex- change current density of 4.18 mA/cm 2, which was 3.2 times higher as compared to the bare cathode. Consequently, this improved ORR activity increased the power output in MFC. COF-2 obtained a maxi- mum power density of 347 ±7 mW/m 2, which was approximately 8 times higher than the bare cathode. The enhanced ORR activity and improved electric output in the MFC can be attributed to the mesoporous nature of Co 3 O 4 nanoflakes that exposed a higher number of ORR active sites at the cathode surface. Overall, mesoporous Co 3 O 4 nanoflakes proved to be highly efficient and ca. 30 times cheaper than plat- inum, therefore, can be preferred in large-scale MFC applications over other expensive cathode catalysts.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Microbial fuel cell; Oxygen reduction reaction; Co3O4 nanoflakes |
| Subjects: | T Technology > T Technology (General) |
| Faculty/Division: | Faculty of Engineering Technology Institute of Postgraduate Studies |
| Depositing User: | Mr Mohamad Dzulazlan Azha |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Aug 2017 08:51 |
| Last Modified: | 28 Aug 2019 02:51 |
| URI: | http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/18419 |
| Download Statistic: | View Download Statistics |
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