BIOELECTROCATALYTIC HYDROGEN EVOLUTION AT LOW VOLTAGE: SELF-SUPPORTED MICROBIAL CARBON AEROGEL ANODE, METAL-FREE CoP NANOWIRE CATHODE AND HIGHLY EFFECTIVE ELECTRON TRANSFER

摘要

Hydrogen is a typical kind of sustainable energy carrier for developing low carbon emission economy whose characteristic is clean and high calorific value per mass unit. Microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) have been reported to utilize electroactive bacteria for extracting energy from wastewater and transferring electrons to the anode by bioelectrocatalysis. Due to the capability of producing hydrogen by reutilizing wastewater with very low energy consumption, this kind of MECs is of great interest and has a significant potential application foreground. Nevertheless, current hydrogen production through MECs is severely and kinetically confined to low current densities of microbial anode, leading to low hydrogen production rate on the cathode.