Production of sustainable energy by carbon nanotube/platinum catalyst in microbial fuel cell

Abstract

Platinum (Pt) is the most efficient and common cathode catalyst that is being applied in fuel cell technology, especially in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). However, its high price makes its use uneconomical in MFCs. Even though there are some other types of new catalysts, their performance could not compete with Pt. This is the main reason why scientists spend all their efforts to decrease the amount of Pt by making some composite of Pt for their use in MFCs thus making it viable and more economical. In this study, carbon nanotube-platinum (CNT/Pt) nanocomposite has been fabricated as a novel cathode catalyst in MFCs and its performance was compared with platinum in MFCs system. The CNT/Pt was synthesized by using the in situ method, and the performance is being compared in terms of power density generation in different concentration. The results have shown that CNT is a suitable support for catalyst in MFCs and CNT/Pt generally has better performance than Pt in MFCs. This can be due to better interaction with oxygen in the cathode chamber and high catalytic activity of CNT/Pt for oxygen reduction reaction. The potential of CNT/Pt nanocomposite in generating electricity from MFCs has been demonstrated and this can be a sustainable source of energy for the future.