title: Nickel oxide and carbon nanotube composite (NiO/CNT) as a novel cathode non-precious metal catalyst in microbial fuel cells.
abstract: Comparing with the precious metal catalysts, non-precious metal catalysts were preferred to use in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) due to the low cost and high oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) efficiency. In this study, the transmission electron microscope and X-ray diffraction as well as Raman investigation revealed that the prepared nanoscale NiO was attached on the surface of CNT. Cyclic voltammogram and rotating ring-disk electrode tests showed that the NiO/CNT composite catalyst had an apparent oxygen reduction peak and 3.5 electron transfer pathway was acquired under oxygen atmosphere. The catalyst performance was highly dependent on the percentage of NiO in the CNT nanocomposites. When 77% NiO/CNT nano-sized composite was applied as cathode catalyst in membrane free single-chamber air cathode MFC, a maximum power density of 670 mW/m(2) and 0.772 V of OCV was obtained. Moreover, the MFC with pure NiO (control) could not achieve more than 0.1 V. All findings suggested that NiO/CNT could be a potential cathode catalyst for ORR in MFCs.
authors.affiliation: School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China.
authors.forename: Jianjian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China; Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Ecosystem Restoration in Industry Clusters, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510006, China. Electronic address: nwzhu@scut.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Nengwu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China.
authors.forename: Tingting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China; Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Ecosystem Restoration in Industry Clusters, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510006, China.
authors.forename: Taiping
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China; Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Ecosystem Restoration in Industry Clusters, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510006, China.
authors.forename: Pingxiao
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China; Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Ecosystem Restoration in Industry Clusters, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510006, China.
authors.forename: Zhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Dang
mesh_terms: D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources; D002384:Catalysis; D004566:Electrodes; D008958:Models, Molecular; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009532:Nickel / Q000737:chemistry*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010100:Oxygen / Q000737:chemistry*; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D009532:Nickel; C028007:nickel monoxide; D010100:Oxygen
keywords: Carbon nanotube; Electron transfer number; Microbial fuel cell; Nickel oxide; Oxygen Reduction Reaction