Development of nanostructured zinc oxide-copper catalysts for enhanced cathodic oxygen reduction reaction in microbial fuel cells | |
| Author | Perera, Nawagamuwage Sujani |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.ISE-24-14 |
| Subject(s) | Oxidation-reduction reaction Voltammetry |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Bio-Nano Material Science and Engineering |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO NRs) coated with copper and platinum metal were prepared and tested for different metal loadings on the ZnO NRs as the catalyst to enhance the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and apply in the microbial fuel cell (MFC) to improve the performances. The ORR kinetics of developed catalysts were monitored using three-electrode electrochemical cell. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) results showed the best redox current peak at different catalysts. Among them, the Cu (3) coated electrode has a negative onset potential at -0.103 V with the highest area (1.252 µW) under the reduction peak. This has proved the best results under MCF generating a high power density of 7.846 mW/m2. This was the best power density among the other metal catalysts. The platinum metal coating catalyst electrode showed the best power density of 7.039 mW/m2 which has the 0.930 µW area under the reduction peak. The developed nanostructured ZnO NRs-Cu metal catalyst showed high catalytic activity towards the ORR with less charge transfer resistance and high redox current that was harvesting more power in MFCs. The MFC was operated with Cu (3) metal-coated electrode was showed the best coulombic efficiency of 4.9% which was higher than bare graphite coulombic efficiency of 3.9%. |
| Year | 2024 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Engineering and Technology |
| Department | Department of Industrial Systems Engineering (DISE) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Bio-Nano Materials Science and Engineering (BNMSE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Bora, Tanujjal; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Ricco, Raffaele;Xue, Wenchao; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Mr. Jaime & Mrs. Elisa Del Rosario Scholarship; |
| Degree | Thesis (M. Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2024 |