Application of pyrolysed iron(II) phthalocyanine and CoTMPP based oxygen reduction catalysts as cathode materials in microbial fuel cells

The performance of iron(II) phthalocyanine (FePc) and cobalt tetramethoxyphenylporphyrin (CoTMPP) based oxygen reduction catalysts was studied in view of the application as cathode materials in microbial fuel cells. Galvanostatic and potentiostatic experiments were performed in order to compare the proposed materials to platinum and hexacyanoferrate(III) based systems. Additionally, two-chamber microbial fuel cell experiments were carried out to demonstrate that the transition metal based materials are well suitable to fully substitute the traditional cathode materials in microbial fuel cells.