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Converting biomass into efficient oxygen reduction reaction catalysts for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

利用生物质材料合成高性能氢氧燃料电池氧还原催化剂

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Abstract

It is urgent to develop low-cost but efficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts for the emerging clean energy devices of fuel cells based on proton exchange membrane. Herein, we report a facile method to covert the biomass of black fungus into an efficient ORR catalyst. The black fungus undergoes hydrothermal and pyrolysis processes to transform into carbon-based materials. The as-obtained BF-N-950 catalyst shows prominent ORR catalytic activities in both acidic and alkaline electrolytes with a half-wave potential reaching 0.77 and 0.91 V, respectively. A membrane electrolyte assembly was fabricated with the as-obtained BF-N-950 as the cathode catalyst which shows a high peak power density of 255 mW cm-2. The study shows the potential of converting conventional biomass into low-cost ORR catalyst, which is promising for the fuel cell technology.

摘要

制备廉价、高活性氧还原催化剂对于发展氢氧燃料电池清洁能源极为重要. 在本论文中, 我们利用黑木耳作为生物质材料, 通过一种便捷的方法合成了高活性氧还原催化剂. 黑木耳经水热和热解两个步骤, 碳化形成BF-N-950催化剂. 该催化剂在酸性和碱性溶液中的半波电势分别为0.77和0.91 V. 采用BF-N-950催化剂作为膜电极得到的氢氧燃料单电池, 峰值功率可达255 mW cm−2. 本文提出了使用生物质材料合成高性能氧还原催化剂的方法, 为氢氧燃料电池的应用提供了有益探索.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFA0206500), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21671014), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (buctrc201823).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Lab of Organic-Inorganic Composites and Beijing Key Laboratory of Energy Environmental Catalysis, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China

    Xingdong Wang  (王兴栋), Jinjie Fang  (方锦杰), Xuerui Liu  (刘雪瑞), Xiangqian Zhang  (张向前), Qingqing Lv  (吕青青), Zhaoxiang Xu  (许照祥), Xuejiang Zhang  (张雪江), Wei Zhu  (朱威) & Zhongbin Zhuang  (庄仲滨)

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  1. Xingdong Wang  (王兴栋)
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  2. Jinjie Fang  (方锦杰)
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  3. Xuerui Liu  (刘雪瑞)
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  4. Xiangqian Zhang  (张向前)
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  5. Qingqing Lv  (吕青青)
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  6. Zhaoxiang Xu  (许照祥)
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  7. Xuejiang Zhang  (张雪江)
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  8. Wei Zhu  (朱威)
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  9. Zhongbin Zhuang  (庄仲滨)
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Contributions

Author contributions Wang X, Zhu W and Zhuang Z conceived and designed the experiments. Wang X performed the synthesis of catalyst and the test of the fuel cell. Wang X, Fang J, Liu X, Zhang X, Lv Q and Xu Z characterized the materials and discussed the results of the experiments. Wang X and Zhuang Z wrote the paper. All authors participated in the general discussion.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Wei Zhu  (朱威) or Zhongbin Zhuang  (庄仲滨).

Additional information

Conflict of interest The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Supplementary information Experimental details and supporting data are available in the online version of the paper.

Xingdong Wang is now a graduate student at Beijing University of Chemical Technology under the supervision of Prof. Zhongbin Zhuang. His research interest focuses on the non-precious metal-based catalysts and their application in proton exchange membrane fuel cell.

Wei Zhu received his PhD degree from Peking University in 2014. After postdoctoral work at Tsinghua University, he joined Beijing University of Chemical Technology as an associate professor in 2018. His main research interests lie in the controllable synthesis of functional nanocatalysts, experimental study of nano-electrocatalytic mechanism, and application exploration of nanomaterials in newly developed electrolyser devices.

Zhongbin Zhuang received his PhD degree from Tsinghua University in 2010. After postdoctoral work at the University of California, Riverside and University of Delaware, he joined Beijing University of Chemical Technology as a professor in 2015. His current research interests include electrocatalysts for fuel cell and electrolysers, interfacial electrochemistry and methodology for nanocrystal synthesis.

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Wang, X., Fang, J., Liu, X. et al. Converting biomass into efficient oxygen reduction reaction catalysts for proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Sci. China Mater. 63, 524–532 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-019-1224-5

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