title: Enhanced hydrogen production in microbial electrolysis cell with 3D self-assembly nickel foam-graphene cathode.
abstract: In comparison to precious metal catalyst especially Platinum (Pt), nickel foam (NF) owned cheap cost and unique three-dimensional (3D) structure, however, it was scarcely applied as cathode material in microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) as the intrinsic laggard electrochemical activity for hydrogen recovery. In this study, a self-assembly 3D nickel foam-graphene (NF-G) cathode was fabricated by facile hydrothermal approach for hydrogen evolution in MECs. Electrochemical analysis (linear scan voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy) revealed the improved electrochemical activity and effective mass diffusion after coating with graphene. NF-G as cathode in MEC showed a significant enhancement in hydrogen production rate compared with nickel foam at a variety of biases. Noticeably, NF-G showed a comparable averaged hydrogen production rate (1.31 ± 0.07 mL H2 mL(-1) reactor d(-1)) to Platinum/carbon (Pt/C) (1.32 ± 0.07 mL H2 mL(-1) reactor d(-1)) at 0.8 V. Profitable energy recovery could be achieved by NF-G cathode at higher applied voltage, which performed the best hydrogen yield of 3.27 ± 0.16 mol H2 mol(-1) acetate at 0.8 V and highest energy efficiency of 185.92 ± 6.48% at 0.6 V.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology (SKLUWRE, HIT), Harbin 150090, China.
authors.forename: Weiwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China. Electronic address: wzliu@rcees.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Wenzong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
authors.forename: Jinglong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology (SKLUWRE, HIT), Harbin 150090, China; Key Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China. Electronic address: waj0578@hit.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Aijie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000085:Acetates / Q000737:chemistry; D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources; D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry; D002384:Catalysis; D004560:Electricity; D004566:Electrodes; D004572:Electrolysis; D006108:Graphite / Q000737:chemistry; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000737:chemistry*; D009532:Nickel / Q000737:chemistry; D010984:Platinum / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000085:Acetates; D010984:Platinum; D002244:Carbon; D006108:Graphite; D009532:Nickel; D006859:Hydrogen
keywords: Cathode; Graphene; Hydrogen recovery; Nickel foam