Porous hollow carbon tube derived from kapok fibres as efficient metal-free oxygen reduction catalysts

• 来源期刊: 中国科学:技术科学（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2019,（10）
• 页码范围: 1710-1718
• 页数: 9页
• 语种: 英文

摘要

Pyrogenic biomass carbon has been deemed a promising alternative to Pt/C for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) owing to its low cost,excellent activity,and eco-friendly properties.Herein,a porous carbon tube material derived from kapok fibres was prepared by combining activation with pyrolysis.Electrochemical measurements demonstrated that the kapok fibre-derived material prepared at 900℃ had excellent ORR performance with a half-wave potential-0.14 V (vs.Ag/AgCl) close to that of commercial Pt/C (-0.13 V vs.Ag/AgCl) in 0.1 mol L-1 KOH.The prepared material also displayed remarkable methanol tolerance and durability.Furthermore,the maximum power density output of the microbial fuel cell using the prepared material was (801±40) mW m-2,comparable to that of the Pt/C cathode ((778±31) mW m-2).The present work provides a facile way of using economical and renewable biomass to develop a porous structure and high-activity cathode ORR catalyst for fuel cell applications.