Nano Copper Oxide-Modified Carbon Cloth as Cathode for a Two-Chamber Microbial Fuel Cell.
In this work, Cu₂O nanoparticles were deposited on a carbon cloth cathode using a facile electrochemical method. The morphology of the modified cathode, which was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) tests, showed that the porosity and specific surface area of the cathode improved with longer deposition times. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) results showed that cupric oxide and cuprous oxide coexisted on the carbon cloth, which improved the electrochemical activity of cathode. The cathode with a deposition time of 100 s showed the best performance, with a power density twice that of bare carbon cloth. Linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) results revealed that moderate deposition of nano copper oxide on carbon cloth could dramatically reduce the charge transfer resistance, which contributed to the enhanced electrochemical performance. The mediation mechanism of copper oxide nanocatalyst was illustrated by the fact that the recycled conversion between cupric oxide and cuprous oxide accelerated the electron transfer efficiency on the cathode.
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China. dongfengtju@foxmail.com.
Feng
F
Dong
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China. da.feipeng@163.com.|School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China. da.feipeng@163.com.
Peng
P
Zhang
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China. likx@nankai.edu.cn.
Kexun
K
Li
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China. lxh@tju.edu.cn.
Xianhua
X
Liu
College of Food Science and Engineering, Tianjin Agricultural University, Tianjin 300384, China. zpp@tjau.edu.cn.
Pingping
P
Zhang
cathode; copper; electrodeposition; microbial fuel cells; nanocatalyst