Nano Copper Oxide-Modified Carbon Cloth as Cathode for a Two-Chamber Microbial Fuel Cell

Abstract

In this work, Cu2O nanoparticles were deposited on a carbon cloth cathode using a facile electrochemical method. The morphology of the modified cathode, which was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) tests, showed that the porosity and specific surface area of the cathode improved with longer deposition times. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) results showed that cupric oxide and cuprous oxide coexisted on the carbon cloth, which improved the electrochemical activity of cathode. The cathode with a deposition time of 100 s showed the best performance, with a power density twice that of bare carbon cloth. Linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) results revealed that moderate deposition of nano copper oxide on carbon cloth could dramatically reduce the charge transfer resistance, which contributed to the enhanced electrochemical performance. The mediation mechanism of copper oxide nanocatalyst was illustrated by the fact that the recycled conversion between cupric oxide and cuprous oxide accelerated the electron transfer efficiency on the cathode.

Key findings

• ▸Cu2O nanoparticles deposited on carbon cloth improved porosity and specific surface area
• ▸Cupric oxide and cuprous oxide coexisted on the carbon cloth, enhancing electrochemical activity
• ▸Moderate deposition of nano copper oxide reduced charge transfer resistance

Keywords

Identifiers

DOI

10.3390/nano6120238

Journal

Nanomaterials

Year

2016