Marine Algae-Derived Porous Carbons as Robust Electrocatalysts for ORR

Catalysts

Pingping Zhang¹  Xin Wang²  Xiaochen Chen³  Jiao Wang⁴  Li Yang⁴  Yang Li⁴  Xianhua Liu⁴ 

[1] College of Food Science and Engineering, Tianjin Agricultural University, Tianjin 300384, China;Department of Microbiology, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056, USA;Fujian Provincial Engineering Research Center of Rural Waste Recycling Technology, College of Environment and Resources, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350108, China;Tianjin Key Laboratory of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300354, China;

关键词: marine algae;    biomass;    oxygen reduction reaction;    catalyst;    fuel cell;   

DOI  :  10.3390/catal9090730

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Large quantities of marine algae are annually produced, and have been disposed or burned as solid waste. In this work, porous carbons were prepared from three kinds of marine algae (Enteromorpha, Laminaria, and Chlorella) by a two-step activation process. The as-prepared carbon materials were doped with cobalt (Co) and applied as catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Our results demonstrated that Co-doped porous carbon prepared from Enteromorpha sp. (denoted by Co-PKEC) displayed excellent catalytic performance for ORR. Co-PKEC obtained a half-wave potential of 0.810 V (vs. RHE) and a maximum current density of 4.41 mA/cm², which was comparable to the commercial 10% Pt/C catalyst (E_1/2 = 0.815 V, J_d = 4.40 mA/cm²). In addition, Co-PKEC had excellent long-term stability and methanol resistance. The catalytic ability of Co-PKEC was evaluated in a one-chamber glucose fuel cell. The maximum power density of the fuel cell equipped with the Co-PKEC cathode was 33.53 W/m² under ambient conditions, which was higher than that of the fuel cell with a 10% Pt/C cathode. This study not only demonstrated an easy-to-implement approach to prepare robust electrochemical catalyst from marine algal biomass, but also provided an innovative strategy for simultaneous waste remediation and value-added material production.

【 授权许可】

Unknown