Nanostructured carbon from biomass as a catalyst for energy conversion devices

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Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Kemian tekniikan korkeakoulu | Master's thesis
Date
2021-03-16
Department
Major/Subject
Functional Materials
Mcode
CHEM3025
Degree programme
Master's Programme in Chemical, Biochemical and Materials Engineering
Language
en
Pages
77 + 5
Series
Abstract
The growth in demand for CO2 free energy sources stimulates the development of more metal-air batteries (MABs) and sustainable catalyst alternatives from renewable or waste resources. In this project some abattoir wastes were applied to obtain porous carbon-based bifunctional electrocatalysts for the MABs. The porous carbon structure obtained from bones were functionalised with transition metals to improve electrocatalyst activities toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), occurring in rechargeable MAB cathodes. The obtained electrocatalysts provide a more economical and sustainable alternative for commercially used catalysts proceeding from platinum on carbon black (Pt-C). Catalysts synthesised from bone decorated with transition metals (Fe, Co) could demonstrate eminent ORR and OER activity. Specifically, ORR attained a 4 electron-transfer similar to Pt-C with more positive onset potential (0.92 vs 0.82, NHE). For the OER, better performance was observed with an onset potential of 0.38 V (NHE) compared to 1.48 V (NHE). Researching the production of catalyst form animal waste resulted in the following discoveries: (1) the surface morphology of the catalyst does not show an effect neither on ORR nor on OER; (2) transitional metals improve electrocatalytic activity synergistically; (3) secondary pyrolysis positively affects the catalyst performance.
Description
Supervisor
Rojas, Orlando
Thesis advisor
Borghei, Maryam
Keywords
porous carbon, biomass conversion, bifunctional electrocatalyst, ORR and OER, transition metals, nitrogen-doped carbon
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Citation