외기 환원전극 활성탄 촉매의 물리화학적 처리에 의한 미생물 연료전지 성능 평가 = Performance evaluation of microbial fuel cell by physico-chemical treatments of activated-carbon catalyst of an air-cathode

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Microbial Fuel cell (MFC) is an innovative electrochemical system, being developed for an energy positive wastewater treatment process for a sustainable society. Development of cathode technology is very important for practical use of MFC. In this study, for developing practical cathode catalyst technology, physico-chemically modified activated carbon catalysts and platinum were tested for performance and electrochemical characterization in an MFC under a same condition, potentially to replace expensive platinum catalysts. Comparing with a maximum power density of a platinum-coated cathode (976 mW/m²), a Co-N-C/AC cathode made with activated carbon doped with cobalt and 1,10-phenanthroline at 800 ℃ produced 1,526 mW/ m² in the MFC condition, which was 56% higher than the Pt-coated cathode. A 500AC cathode made with heat-treated activated carbon at 500 ℃ produced 1,394 mW/m² and non-treated activated carbon cathode (Plain AC) produced 1,014 mW/m². The tested activated-carbon electrodes showed electrochemical performance and power production superior to the Pt-coated cathode. Electrochemical performance of cathodes was increased as more physico-chemical treatments were added to activated carbon catalysts. Cathode impedance results showed that enhanced electrochemical performance was attributed to decrease of cathode charge transfer resistance, possibly due to the physical-chemical modification of activated carbon and the catalyst change.