Issue 90, 2014
From the journal:

RSC Advances

Nitrogen-doped activated carbon as a metal free catalyst for hydrogen production in microbial electrolysis cells†

Bo Zhang,a   Zhenhai Wen,b   Suqin Ci,b   Junhong Chen*b  and  Zhen He*c  

* Corresponding authors

a Key Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100085, China

b Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA
E-mail: jhchen@uwm.edu

c Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
E-mail: zhenhe@vt.edu

Abstract

Nitrogen-doped activated carbon was investigated as an alternative cathode catalyst for hydrogen production in microbial electrolysis cells (MECs). Both electrochemical and MEC tests confirmed that nitrogen doping was an effective method in improving the catalytic activity of activated carbon towards the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). This improvement was attributed to the increased nitrogen content in activated carbon, as a higher content of nitrogen would facilitate the Volmer step in HER. Although the overall performance of the nitrogen-doped activated carbon was lower than the platinum-based catalysts, its low cost and (potentially) long-term stability would compensate for a low hydrogen production rate.

Graphical abstract: Nitrogen-doped activated carbon as a metal free catalyst for hydrogen production in microbial electrolysis cells

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C4RA08555H
Article type
Communication
Submitted
12 Aug 2014
Accepted
26 Sep 2014
First published
26 Sep 2014
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Adv., 2014,4, 49161-49164

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Nitrogen-doped activated carbon as a metal free catalyst for hydrogen production in microbial electrolysis cells

B. Zhang, Z. Wen, S. Ci, J. Chen and Z. He, RSC Adv., 2014, 4, 49161 DOI: 10.1039/C4RA08555H

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