Nitrogen-doped graphene/CoNi alloy encased within bamboo-like carbon nanotube hybrids as cathode catalysts in microbial fuel cells
By Yang Hou and Heyang Yuan and Zhenhai Wen and Shumao Cui and Xiaoru Guo and Zhen He and Junhong Chen
Published in Journal of Power Sources
2016
Abstract
Cost-effective catalysts are of key importance to the successful deployment of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) for electricity generation from organic wastes. Herein, a novel catalyst prepared by one-step synthesis strategy is reported. The catalyst features N-doped bamboo-like carbon nanotube (BCNT) in which CoNi-alloy is encapsulated at the end and/or the middle section of the tube with many graphene layers inside inner cavities of \BCNT\ (N-G@CoNi/BCNT). The prepared N-G@CoNi/BCNT exhibits a high oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity with an early onset potential of 0.06