Three-dimensional graphene nanosheets as cathode catalysts in standard and supercapacitive microbial fuel cell

Carlo Santoro, Mounika Kodali, Sadia Kabir, Francesca Soavi, Alexey Serov, Plamen Atanassov

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

106 Scopus citations

Abstract

Three-dimensional graphene nanosheets (3D-GNS) were used as cathode catalysts for microbial fuel cells (MFCs) operating in neutral conditions. 3D-GNS catalysts showed high performance towards oxygen electroreduction in neutral media with high current densities and low hydrogen peroxide generation compared to activated carbon (AC). 3D-GNS was incorporated into air-breathing cathodes based on AC with three different loadings (2, 6 and 10 mgcm−2). Performances in MFCs showed that 3D-GNS had the highest performances with power densities of 2.059 ± 0.003 Wm-2, 1.855 ± 0.007 Wm-2 and 1.503 ± 0.005 Wm-2 for loading of 10, 6 and 2 mgcm−2 respectively. Plain AC had the lowest performances (1.017 ± 0.009 Wm-2). The different cathodes were also investigated in supercapacitive MFCs (SC-MFCs). The addition of 3D-GNS decreased the ohmic losses by 14–25%. The decrease in ohmic losses allowed the SC-MFC with 3D-GNS (loading 10 mgcm−2) to have the maximum power (Pmax) of 5.746 ± 0.186 Wm-2. At 5 mA, the SC-MFC featured an “apparent” capacitive response that increased from 0.027 ± 0.007 F with AC to 0.213 ± 0.026 F with 3D-GNS (loading 2 mgcm−2) and further to 1.817 ± 0.040 F with 3D-GNS (loading 10 mgcm−2).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)371-380
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Power Sources
Volume356
DOIs
StatePublished - 2017
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • 3-D graphene nanosheets
  • Capacitance
  • Microbial fuel cell (MFC)
  • Power generation
  • Supercapacitive microbial fuel cell (SC-MFC)

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