Carbon supported nickel-phthalocyanine/MnOx as novel cathode catalyst for microbial fuel cell application

• Published in: International journal of hydrogen energy 2017-09, Vol.42 (36), p.23085-23094
• Main Authors: Tiwari, B.R., Noori, Md. T., Ghangrekar, M.M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cathode catalyst; Coulombic efficiency; Microbial fuel cells; Oxygen reduction reaction; Phthalocyanine
• ISSN: 0360-3199; 1879-3487
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.07.201

Performance of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) with carbon supported nickel phthalocyanine (NiPc)MnOx composite (MFC-1) and nickel phthalocyanine (MFC-2) incorporated cathode was compared with a control MFC with non-catalysed carbon felt as cathode (MFC-3) and MFC-4 having Pt on cathode (as benchmark reference control). MFC-1 exhibited power density of 8.02 Wm−3, which was four folds higher than control MFC-3 (2.08 Wm−3) and 1.14 times higher than MFC-2 (6.97 Wm−3). Coulombic efficiency of 30.3% obtained in MFC-1 was almost double of that obtained for control MFC-3 and it was 5.4% lesser as compared to MFC-4 (35.7%). Linear sweep voltammetry study of cathodes revealed that NiPc-MnOx could enhance the electrocatalytic activity of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in comparison to control cathode. However, the power recovery from MFC-1 was noted little lower than what obtained from MFC-4 (10.58 Wm−3), however the cost normalized power was two times higher than Pt catalyst on cathode. Thus, NiPc-MnOx based catalyst developed in this study has potential to enhance ORR in cathodes of MFCs in order to harvest more power. •NiPc-MnOx was tested as cathode catalyst in MFC.•Doping of MnOx on NiPc skeleton improved the electrochemical property.•Power recovery from MFC with NiPc-MnOx was four folds higher than control MFC.•Two fold increment in CE in MFC with NiPc-MnOx catalyst as compared to control MFC.