A hybrid fuel cell for water purification and simultaneously electricity generation

doi:10.1007/s11783-023-1611-6

Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.

2023, Vol. 17

Issue (1) : 11 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-023-1611-6

RESEARCH ARTICLE

A hybrid fuel cell for water purification and simultaneously electricity generation

Yujun Zhou^1,³, Qinghua Ji²(

), Chengzhi Hu¹, Huijuan Liu², Jiuhui Qu^1,²

¹. Key Laboratory of Drinking Water Science and Technology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
². Center for Water and Ecology, State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
³. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, School of Environmental and Biological Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China

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Abstract

● A novel hybrid fuel cell (F-HFC) was fabricated.

● Pollutant degradation and synchronous electricity generation occurred in F-HFC.

● BiOCl-NH₄PTA photocatalyst greatly improved electron transfer and charge separation.

● Pollutant could act as substrate directly in ambient conditions without pretreatment.

● The mechanism of the F-HFC was proposed and elucidated.

The development of highly efficient energy conversion technologies to extract energy from wastewater is urgently needed, especially in facing of increasing energy and environment burdens. Here, we successfully fabricated a novel hybrid fuel cell with BiOCl-NH₄PTA as photocatalyst. The polyoxometalate (NH₄PTA) act as the acceptor of photoelectrons and could retard the recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes, which lead to superior photocatalytic degradation. By utilizing BiOCl-NH₄PTA as photocatalysts and Pt/C air-cathode, we successfully constructed an electron and mass transfer enhanced photocatalytic hybrid fuel cell with flow-through field (F-HFC). In this novel fuel cell, dyes and biomass could be directly degraded and stable power output could be obtained. About 87 % of dyes could be degraded in 30 min irradiation and nearly 100 % removed within 90 min. The current density could reach up to ~267.1 μA/cm²; with maximum power density (P_max) of ~16.2 μW/cm² with Rhodamine B as organic pollutant in F-HFC. The power densities were 9.0 μW/cm², 12.2 μW/cm², and 13.9 μW/cm² when using methyl orange (MO), glucose and starch as substrates, respectively. This hybrid fuel cell with BiOCl-NH₄PTA composite fulfills the purpose of decontamination of aqueous organic pollutants and synchronous electricity generation. Moreover, the novel design cell with separated photodegradation unit and the electricity generation unit could bring potential practical application in water purification and energy recovery from wastewater.

Keywords Flow-through field Hybrid fuel cell Polyoxometalates Water purification Electricity generation

Corresponding Author(s): Qinghua Ji

About author:

Tongcan Cui and Yizhe Hou contributed equally to this work.

Issue Date: 08 September 2022

Cite this article:

Yujun Zhou,Qinghua Ji,Chengzhi Hu, et al. A hybrid fuel cell for water purification and simultaneously electricity generation[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2023, 17(1): 11.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-023-1611-6
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2023/V17/I1/11

Scheme1 Schematic diagrams of the hybrid cell (a) transparent beaker with RhB-photocatalyst; (b) peristaltic pump; (c) acrylic plastic end plate for seal; (d) graphite electrode with flow-through field; (e) MEA (Nafion 117 polymer exchange membrane and air-cathode); (f) oxygen inlet; (g) water and oxygen outlet.

Fig.1 Materials characterization. High magnification SEM images of (a) BiOCl, (b) NH₄PTA, (c) BiOCl-NH₄PTA; (d) XRD patterns of BiOCl, NH₄PTA and BiOCl-NH₄PTA; HRTEM images of (e) BiOCl, (f) NH₄PTA, (g) BiOCl-NH₄PTA, (h) higher magnification of BiOCl-NH₄PTA; (i) the TEM image and EDS mapping of Bi, Cl, P, W elements of BiOCl-NH₄PTA.

Fig.2 Photocatalytic performances of the BiOCl-NH₄PTA. Kinetic investigation of RhB photocatalytic degradation by (a) BiOCl-NH₄PTA composite with different Bi: W ratios, (b) BiOCl-NH₄PTA under different pH condition; (c) photocatalytic performances of BiOCl-NH₄PTA in flow-through field and immersed configuration; (d) investigation on stability test on photo-degradation efficiency of RhB for five cycles.

Fig.3 The electricity generation performance of the BiOCl-NH₄PTA in F-HFC system. (a) Kinetic investigation of RhB photocatalytic degradation under different flow rates; (b) photocatalytic degradation efficiency of different targeted pollutants; (c) voltage–current density and power–current density plots with different pH at room temperature; (d) voltage–current density and power–current density plots at elevated temperature (80 °C); (e) voltage density and power–current density plots with different pollutants; (f) current density of F-HFC system (Initial RhB concentration is 30 mg/L, flow rate is 16 mL/min).

Fig.4 (a) UV–vis diffuse reflection spectra of BiOCl and BiOCl-NH₄PTA; (b) The Tauc plot of BiOCl and BiOCl-NH₄PTA; (c) Transient photocurrent curves of BiOCl and BiOCl-NH₄PTA; (d) Photoluminescence spectra of BiOCl and BiOCl-NH₄PTA.

Fig.5 Schematic illustration of the hybrid F-HFC.

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