A non-noble V2O5 nanorods as an alternative cathode catalyst for microbial fuel cell applications

Abstract

This study assessed the feasibility of vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) as a novel cathode catalyst material in air-cathode single chamber microbial fuel cells (SCMFCs). The V2O5 nanorod catalyst was synthesized using a hydrothermal method. MFCs with different cathode catalyst loadings were studied. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) was used to examine the electrochemical behavior of the catalysts in the MFCs. The V2O5 cathode catalyst constructed with a double loading MFC exhibited the highest maximum power density of 1073 ± 18 mW m−2 (OCP; 691±4 mV) compared with 447 ± 12 mW m−2 (OCP; 594 ± 5 mV) and 936 ± 15 mW m−2 (OCP; 647±5 mV) for the single loading MFC and triple loading MFC, respectively. The power density of MFC with double loaded V2O5 is comparable to the traditional Pt/C cathode (2067 ± 25 mW m−2, OCP; 821 ± 4 mV), which covers up to 55% of the performance of Pt/C. This finding highlights the potential of the V2O5 cathode as an inexpensive catalyst material for MFCs that may have commercial applications.