A Nickel- and Cerium-Doped Zeolite Composite: An Affordable Cathode Material for Biohydrogen Production in Microbial Electrolysis Cells.

Abstract

Microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) is one of the promising biohydrogen production technologies for which low-cost cathode materials are required and developed to propel the rapid development of MECs. Herein, the preparation of a low-cost Ce0.1 -Ni-Y composite is reported by using Y zeolite as carrier loaded with nickel (Ni) and cerium (Ce) as active components and its prominent electrochemical performance. The XPS analysis reveals that strong electronic interaction between Ni and Ce makes a great contribution to the electrochemical performance enhancement. The Ce0.1 -Ni-Y with a peak current density of 39.8 A⋅m-2 in LSV, Tafel slope of 40.81 mV⋅dec-1 , ECSA of 34.3 and hydrogen yield of 0.312±0.013 m3 ⋅m-3 d-1 are significantly superior to that of its parent Ni-Y counterpart and rival the performance of commercially Pt/C, which renders it a very promising hydrogen evolution catalyst for MECs.