Cu, Co embedded N-enriched mesoporous carbon cathode catalyst for the efficient bioelectrochemical removal of phenanthrene in microbial fuel cell

Abstract

The development of high-efficiency and economical oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts is vital for the improvement of renewable energy storage and conversion technology. As a promising energy conversion technology, the performance of microbial fuel cell (MFC) has aroused worldwide interest in recent years owing to its power generation capacity and potential for wastewater treatment. In an aquatic environment, phenanthrene (Phe) is one of the most abundant polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. We synthesized a series of CuCo samples successfully via simple in- situ growth and thermal decomposition method. In addition, a single-chamber, air-cathode MFC is investigated for the degradation of phenanthrene in neutral solution. The cathode catalyst 1.5 CuCo@NC-800 exhibits a maximum power density (MPD) of 3248.68 ± 28.21 mW m−2 in initial cycles and maintained at 95.25% after the Phe degradation. And in this study, the reactor with 1.5 CuCo@NC-800 catalyst can effectively reduce Phe at low concentrations and remain above the rate of 98%. Therefore, 1.5 CuCo@NC-800 showed great potential to become a material candidate for non-noble cathode catalyst in MFC.