Biotic Cathode of Graphite Fibre Brush for Improved Application in Microbial Fuel Cells

The biocathode in a microbial fuel cell (MFC) system is a promising and a cheap alternative method to improve cathode reaction performance. This study aims to identify the effect of the electrode combination between non-chemical modified stainless steel (SS) and graphite fibre brush (GFB) for constructing bio-electrodes in an MFC. In this study, the MFC had two chambers, separated by a cation exchange membrane, and underwent a total of four different treatments with different electrode arrangements (anodeǁcathode)—SSǁSS (control), GFBǁSS, GFBǁGFB and SSǁGFB. Both electrodes were heat-treated to improve surface oxidation. On the 20th day of the operation, the GFBǁGFB arrangement generated the highest power density, up to 3.03 W/m³ (177 A/m³), followed by the SSǁGFB (0.0106 W/m³, 0.412 A/m³), the GFBǁSS (0.0283 W/m³, 17.1 A/m³), and the SSǁSS arrangements (0.0069 W/m⁻³, 1.64 A/m³). The GFBǁGFB had the lowest internal resistance (0.2 kΩ), corresponding to the highest power output. The other electrode arrangements, SSǁGFB, GFBǁSS, and SSǁSS, showed very high internal resistance (82 kΩ, 2.1 kΩ and 18 kΩ, respectively) due to the low proton and electron movement activity in the MFC systems. The results show that GFB materials can be used as anode and cathode in a fully biotic MFC system.     

Enhanced hydrogen selectivity from catalytic decomposition of formic acid over FeZnIr nanocatalyst at room temperature

Research on Chemical Intermediates - Hydrogen is considered a promising energy carrier for the future, especially for clean energy generation via fuel cell technologies. Formic acid is one of the...     

Core Shell Nanostructure: Impregnated Activated Carbon as Adsorbent for Hydrogen Sulfide Adsorption

This study focuses on the synthesis, characterization, and evaluation of the performance of core shell nanostructure adsorbent for hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) capture. Commercial coconut shell activated carbon (CAC) and commercial mixed gas of 5000 ppm H₂S balanced N₂ were used. With different preparation techniques, the CAC was modified by core shell impregnation with zinc oxide (ZnO), titanium oxide (TiO₂), potassium hydroxide (KOH), and zinc acetate (ZnAC₂). The core structure was prepared with CAC impregnated by single chemical and double chemical labelled with ZnAC₂-CAC (single chemical), ZnAC₂/KOH-CAC, ZnAC₂/ZnO-CAC, and ZnAC₂/TiO₂-CAC. Then, the prepared core was layered either with KOH, TiO₂, NH₃, or TEOS for the shell. The synthesized adsorbents were characterized in physical and chemical characterization through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analyzers. Operation of the adsorber column takes place at ambient temperature, with absolute pressure at 1.5 bar. The H₂S gas was fed into the column at 5.5 L/min and the loaded adsorbents were 150 g. The performance of synthesized adsorbent was analyzed through the adsorbent’s capability in capturing H₂S gas. Based on the results, ZnAc₂/ZnO/CAC_WOS shows a better adsorption capacity with 1.17 mg H₂S/g and a 53% increment compared to raw CAC. However, the degradation of the adsorbents was higher compared to ZnAc₂/ZnO/CAC_OS and to ZnAc₂/ZnO/CAC_WS ZnAc₂/ZnO/CAC_OS. The presence of silica as a shell has potentially increased the adsorbent’s stability in several cycles of adsorption-desorption.