Improved cathodic oxygen reduction and bioelectricity generation of electrochemical reactor based on reduced graphene oxide decorated with titanium-based composites

Meng Li; Yong-Guang Bi; Lei Xiang; Xiao-Ting Chen; Yu-Jie Qin; Ce-Hui Mo; Shao-Qi Zhou

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2019.122319

Improved cathodic oxygen reduction and bioelectricity generation of electrochemical reactor based on reduced graphene oxide decorated with titanium-based composites

Bioresour Technol. 2020 Jan:296:122319. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.122319. Epub 2019 Oct 23.

Authors

Meng Li¹, Yong-Guang Bi², Lei Xiang³, Xiao-Ting Chen³, Yu-Jie Qin², Ce-Hui Mo⁴, Shao-Qi Zhou⁵

Affiliations

¹ Guangdong Provincial Research Center for Environment Pollution Control and Remediation Materials, College of Life Science and Technology, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China; School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Centre, Guangzhou 510006, PR China.
² School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Centre, Guangzhou 510006, PR China.
³ Guangdong Provincial Research Center for Environment Pollution Control and Remediation Materials, College of Life Science and Technology, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.
⁴ Guangdong Provincial Research Center for Environment Pollution Control and Remediation Materials, College of Life Science and Technology, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China. Electronic address: tchmo@jnu.edu.cn.
⁵ School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Centre, Guangzhou 510006, PR China; Guizhou Academy of Sciences, Shanxi Road 1, Guiyang 550001, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Building Science, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, PR China. Electronic address: fesqzhou@scut.edu.cn.

PMID: 31689612
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.122319

Abstract

A kind of reduced graphene oxide decorated with titanium-based (RGO/TiO₂) composites are successfully synthesized and employed in this current study as a novel nonprecious metal catalyst for enhancing bioelectricity generation and cathodic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in single chamber microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Compared with commercial Pt/C, RGO/TiO₂ shows obviously enhanced oxygen reduction reaction activity due to the appropriately-permeated, large electrochemical active area, enough exposure of electrocatalytic active sites of RGO/TiO₂. The air-cathode MFC with RGO/TiO₂-1 cathode achieves 1786.7 mW m^-3 of power density, 86.7% ± 1.2% of COD removal and 31.6% ± 1.1% of CE, which are higher than commercial Pt/C. Moreover, RGO/TiO₂-1 cathode exhibits high-effective electrocatalytic activity, and the power density of RGO/TiO₂-1 can keep a stable level and only has a minor decline (5.35%) during 30-cycles operation. These results indicate that RGO/TiO₂-1 is a potential cathode catalyst, markedly enhancing cathode ORR, wastewater treatment efficiency, and bioelectricity generation of MFC.

Keywords: Bioelectricity generation; Electron transfer; Microbial fuel cell; Oxygen reduction reaction; Reduced graphene oxide.

MeSH terms

Electrodes
Family Characteristics
Graphite
Oxygen*
Titanium*

Substances

graphene oxide
Graphite
Titanium
Oxygen