High Power Generation with Reducing Agents Using Compost Soil as a Novel Electrocatalyst for Ammonium Fuel Cells

Autor: Verjesh Kumar Magotra, Seung Joo Lee, Tae Won Kang, Akbar I. Inamdar, Deuk Young Kim, Hyunsik Im, Hee Chang Jeon
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Nanomaterials, Vol 12, Iss 8, p 1281 (2022)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2079-4991
DOI: 10.3390/nano12081281
Popis: Ammonium toxicity is a significant source of pollution from industrial civilization that is disrupting the balance of natural systems, adversely affecting soil and water quality, and causing several environmental problems that affect aquatic and human life, including the strong promotion of eutrophication and increased dissolved oxygen consumption. Thus, a cheap catalyst is required for power generation and detoxification. Herein, compost soil is employed as a novel electrocatalyst for ammonium degradation and high-power generation. Moreover, its effect on catalytic activity and material performances is systematically optimized and compared by treating it with various reducing agents, including potassium ferricyanide, ferrocyanide, and manganese dioxide. Ammonium fuel was supplied to the compost soil ammonium fuel cell (CS-AFC) at concentrations of 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 g/mL. The overall results show that ferricyanide affords a maximum power density of 1785.20 mW/m2 at 0.2 g/mL fuel concentration. This study focuses on high-power generation for CS-AFC. CS-AFCs are sustainable for many hours without any catalyst deactivation; however, they need to be refueled at regular intervals (every 12 h). Moreover, CS-AFCs afford the best performance when ferricyanide is used as the electron acceptor at the cathode. This study proposes a cheap electrocatalyst and possible solutions to the more serious energy generation problems. This study will help in recycling ammonium-rich wastewaters as free fuel for running CS-AFC devices to yield high-power generation with reducing agents for ammonium fuel cell power applications.
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