Removal of Cr(VI) with Cogeneration of Electricity by an Alkaline Fuel Cell Reactor

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• 作者：Huimin Zhang ; Wei Xu ; Zucheng Wu ; Minghua Zhou ; Tao Jin
• 刊名：The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
• 出版年：2013
• 出版时间：July 18, 2013
• 年：2013
• 卷：117
• 期：28
• 页码：14479-14484
• 全文大小：359K
• 年卷期：v.117,no.28(July 18, 2013)
• ISSN：1932-7455

文摘

Electricity can be harvested directly from an alkaline ethanol fuel cell (AEFC) reactor in which contaminant Cr(VI) is taken as the oxidant. The performance of the AEFC reactor was characterized in terms of power generation, Cr(VI) removal, cathodic efficiency, polarization curves, and Cr(VI) reduction kinetics. The cell potential, Cr(VI) removal, and cathodic efficiency are strongly dependent on pH and Cr(VI) concentration. Using 3.94 mM Cr(VI) in 1 M H₂SO₄ catholyte and 2.0 M C₂H₅OH in 0.5 M KOH anolyte, a high open circuit potential of 1.46 V and more than 96.0% Cr(VI) removal efficiency could be achieved, and in case of varying Cr(VI) concentration to 8.65 mM, a power density of 0.19 mW cm^鈥? at a current density of 0.23 mA cm^鈥? was observed. The Cr(VI) reduction follows a first-order kinetics. This work shows that the use of fuel cell provides a novel approach for simultaneous electricity generation and contaminant abatement.