Effect of Active Site Poisoning on Iron−Nitrogen−Carbon Platinum-Group-Metal-Free Oxygen Reduction Reaction Catalysts Operating in Neutral Media: A Rotating Disk Electrode Study

Valerio C.A. Ficca, Carlo Santoro, Alessandra D'Epifanio, Silvia Licoccia, Alexey Serov, Plamen Atanassov, Barbara Mecheri

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Scopus citations

Abstract

Platinum-group-metal-free (PGM-free) catalysts are the most promising materials to substitute expensive platinum catalysts for efficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), particularly for microbial fuel cells. For these devices, contamination due to wastewater is one of the major issues, owing to the presence of various poisoning anions. The known nitrite contamination effect over PGM-free catalysts was studied by using the rotating disk electrode (RDE) technique in neutral media to understand its patterns. The results were then compared to other contaminants commonly found in wastewater such as chloride (Cl), perchlorate (ClO4), and nitrate (NO3) in the concentration range of 0.05–50 mM. Onset potential (Eonset), half-wave potential (E1/2), limiting disk current density (Jlim) and Tafel slope variations were the parameters exploited to identify specific or nonspecific adsorbed contaminants. Chloride and nitrate had no negative effect on ORR performance, whereas perchlorate slightly reduced the catalyst function with no permanent issues. Durability tests (1000 cycles) were also performed to ensure the stability of the catalyst for the relatively long time.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3044-3055
Number of pages12
JournalChemElectroChem
Volume7
Issue number14
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 16 2020
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Tafel analysis
  • performance recovery
  • platinum group metal-free catalysts
  • poisoning effect
  • rotating disk electrode

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