Investigation of hydrogen evolution on electrodeposited Ni/P coated carbon paper electrode in microbial fuel cell

摘要

Microbial electrolytic cell (MEC) is an innovative bioelectrochemical technology for hydrogenproduction using various organics and even wastewater. The development of a nonprecious metalhydrogen catalyst is critical to MECs. Increasing the stability and activity of such catalyst remains a keychallenge. In this study, Ni/P is prepared by electrodeposition on bare carbon paper. The preparedelectrode material is used as a cathode electrocatalyst in an MEC. Here, we show that the Ni/P cathodematerial has excellent hydrogen generation catalytic activity, that is comparable to that of Pt and superiorto that of Ni or bare carbon paper. Particularly, the electrode has the best hydrogen evolution abilitywhen the Ni 2+ /PO4 3- ratio is 50:30 and current density is 154.18 A m -2 , which is 12% larger than that ofPt. The cathode hydrogen recovery rate, hydrogen production rate and energy efficiency of the electrodeare 74.54%±0.89%, 0.321±0.012 m 3 H 2 m -3 d -1 and 135.11%±5.36%, respectively, which are superior tothose of Pt. The Ni/P cathode has good long-term stability. Results of this study, indicate that the Ni/Pcathode is an alternative to Pt and have good prospects for MEC hydrogen evolution reaction (HER)cathode.