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Nitric acid activation of graphite granules to increase the performance of the non-catalyzed oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) for MFC applications
- Source :
- Electrochemistry Communications, Vol 11, Iss 7, Pp 1547-1549 (2009)
- Publication Year :
- 2009
- Publisher :
- Elsevier, 2009.
-
Abstract
- Nitric acid and thermal activation of graphite granules were explored to increase the electrocatalytic performance of dissolved oxygen reduction at neutral pH for microbial fuel cell (MFC) applications. Electrochemical experiments showed an improvement of +400 mV in open circuit potential for graphite granules when they were activated. The improvement of ORR performance observed with activated granules was correlated to the increase of Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface of the activated material and the emergence of nitrogen superficial groups revealed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis on its surface.The use of activated graphite granules in the cathodic compartment of a dual-chamber MFC led to a high open circuit voltage of 1050 mV, which is among one of the highest reported so far. The stable performance of this cathode material (current density of 96 A m−3 at +200 mV/Ag–AgCl) over a period of 10 days demonstrated its applicability as a cathode material without any costly noble metal. Keywords: Microbial fuel cell, Oxygen reduction reaction, Activated granules, High voltage
- Subjects :
- Microbial fuel cell
Chemistry
Granule (cell biology)
engineering.material
Electrochemistry
Electrocatalyst
Catalysis
Oxygen reduction reaction
High voltage
lcsh:Chemistry
chemistry.chemical_compound
Chemical engineering
lcsh:Industrial electrochemistry
lcsh:QD1-999
Nitric acid
engineering
Génie chimique
Noble metal
Graphite
Activated granules
Génie des procédés
Nuclear chemistry
lcsh:TP250-261
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 13882481
- Volume :
- 11
- Issue :
- 7
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Electrochemistry Communications
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....67509c9b3a3cd60c4ac09fe6ac960b53