Phosphomolybdic Acid coupling with Vulcan XC72 Carbon as Superior Catalyst to Enhance ORR Activity and Performance of MFC

摘要

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is an emerging technology that can treat wastewater and recover energysimultaneously However, there are many factors that limit its application, among which cathode catalystsare one of the main obstacles. In this study, H 3 PMo 12 O 40 /Vulcan XC72 carbon (PMo/CB) material wassuccessfully prepared by a feasible process and used as efficient catalyst on oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) to improve the performance of MFC. The electrochemical performance of PMo/CB and Pt/Cwere evaluated by LSV, EIS, and Tafel plot. The results showed that the ORR activities of samples werefollowing the order of PMo/CB-2 > Pt/C > PMo/CB-3 > PMo/CB-1 > PMo/CB-4 > CB. Moreover,PMo/CB exhibited a high durability compared to Pt/C in MFC after 4 months of operation. Finally, thecatalytic reaction mechanism of PMo/CB was discussed. The results demonstrated the high ORR activityof the sample could be attributed to the favorable specific surface area of CB and the effect ofelectrostatic coupling between PMo and CB, which enhanced the adsorption and reduction of O 2 .Therefore, PMo/CB will be a promising cathode ORR catalyst for microbial electrochemical system.