title: Nonactivated and activated biochar derived from bananas as alternative cathode catalyst in microbial fuel cells.
abstract: Nonactivated and activated biochars have been successfully prepared by bananas at different thermotreatment temperatures. The activated biochar generated at 900°C (Biochar-act900) exhibited improved oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performances in alkaline media, in terms of the onset potential and generated current density. Rotating disk electron result shows that the average of 2.65 electrons per oxygen molecule was transferred during ORR of Biochar-act900. The highest power density of 528.2 mW/m(2) and the maximum stable voltage of 0.47 V were obtained by employing Biochar-act900 as cathode catalyst, which is comparable to the Pt/C cathode. Owning to these advantages, it is expected that the banana-derived biochar cathode can find application in microbial fuel cell systems.
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China ; Key Laboratory of Renewable Energy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors.forename: Haoran
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China ; Key Laboratory of Renewable Energy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors.forename: Lifang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China ; Key Laboratory of Renewable Energy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors.forename: Yujie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China ; Key Laboratory of Renewable Energy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors.forename: Noriyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Institute of Eco-Environmental and Soil Sciences, 808 Tianyuan Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510650, China.
authors.forename: Jiahuan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources; D002384:Catalysis; D002606:Charcoal / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism*; D004566:Electrodes; D028521:Musa
chemical_list: C540010:biochar; D002606:Charcoal