Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Simple Self-assembly Synthesis for Cost-Effective Alkaline Fuel Cell Bi-functional Electrocatalyst Synthesized from Polyethylene Terephthalate Waste Bottles

  • Published:
Journal of Electronic Materials Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The development of bi-functional, non-precious and highly active catalyst has been a key challenge for the commercial application of alkaline fuel cells. In this work, fullerene iron oxide composite, derived from mineral water waste bottles, was used as a catalyst for electrodes in an alkaline fuel cell instead of platinum. The results demonstrate that an oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) was established to proceed through the efficacious four-electron reduction path, and all the reaction steps were found to be spontaneous. Interestingly, fullerene iron oxide composite is a promising electrocatalyst with bi-functional activity for ORR and oxygen evolution reaction in addition to achieving good cycling stability compared to platinum in the alkaline electrolyte.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. M.A.F. Akhairi and S.K. Kamarudin, Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 41, 4214 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. S. Gao, B. Fan, R. Feng, C. Ye, X. Wei, J. Xu, and X. Bu, Nano Energy 40, 462 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Q. Lai, L. Zheng, Y. Liang, J. He, J. Zhao, and J. Chen, ACS Catal. 7, 1655 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Y. Su, H. Jiang, Y. Zhu, W. Zou, X. Yang, J. Chen, and C. Li, J. Power Sources 265, 246 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. L. Ye, G. Chai, and Z. Wen, Adv. Funct. Mater. 27, 1606190 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. J.H. Dumont, U. Martinez, K. Artyushkova, G.M. Purdy, A.M. Dattelbaum, P. Zelenay, A. Mohite, P. Atanassov, and G. Gupta, ACS Appl. Nano Mater. (2019). https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.8b02235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. M. Liu, X. Guo, L. Hu, H. Yuan, G. Wang, B. Dai, L. Zhang, and F. Yu, ChemNanoMat 5, 187 (2019).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. L. Yang, J. Shui, L. Du, Y. Shao, J. Liu, L. Dai, and Z. Hu, Adv. Mater. 31 (13), 1804799 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. A.B. Soliman, H.S. Abdel-Samad, S.S. Abdel Rehim, M.A. Ahmed, and H.H. Hassan, J. Power Sources 325, 653 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. H. Fang, T. Huang, Y. Sun, B. Kang, D. Liang, S. Yao, J. Yu, M.M. Dinesh, S. Wu, J.Y. Lee, and S. Mao, J. Catal. 371, 185 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. D. Deng, L. Yu, X. Chen, G. Wang, L. Jin, X. Pan, J. Deng, G. Sun, and X. Bao, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 52, 371 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Z. Liang, W. Xia, C. Qu, B. Qiu, H. Tabassum, S. Gao, and R. Zou, ChemElectroChem 4, 2442 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. M. Prabu, P. Ramakrishnan, and S. Shanmugam, Electrochem. Commun. 41, 59 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. C. Sun, F. Li, C. Ma, Y. Wang, Y. Ren, W. Yang, Z. Ma, J. Li, Y. Chen, Y. Kim, and L. Chen, J. Mater. Chem. A 2, 7188 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. J. Coro, M. Suarez, L.S.R. Silva, K.I.B. Eguiluz, and G.R. Salazar-Band, Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 41, 17944 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. R.M. Giron, J. Marco-Martinez, S. Bellani, A. Insuasty, H.C. Rojas, G. Tullii, M.R. Antognazza, S. Filippone, and N. Martín, J. Mater. Chem. A 4, 14284 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. V.E. Burlakova and A.A. Novikova, Nanotubes Carbon Nanostruct. 25, 483 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. N.A. El Essawy, A.H. Konsowa, M. Elnouby, and H.A. Farag, J. Air Waste Manag. Assoc. 67, 358 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. J. Zhang, Z. Zhao, Z. Xia, and L. Dai, Nat. Nanotechnol. 10, 444 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. N.A. El Essawy, S.M. Ali, H.A. Farag, A.H. Konsowa, M. Elnouby, and H.A. Hamad, Ecotoxicol. Environ. Saf. 145, 57 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. M.J. Workman, A. Serov, L. Tsui, P. Atanassov, and K. Artyushkova, ACS Energy Lett. 2, 1489 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. A. Barreiro, S. Hampel, M.H. Rulmmeli, C. Kramberger, A. Grüneis, K. Biedermann, A. Leonhardt, T. Gemming, B. Büchner, A. Bachtold, and T. Pichler, J. Phys. Chem. B 110, 20973 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. A. Leonhardt, S. Hampel, C. Müller, I. Mönch, R. Koseva, M. Ritschel, D. Elefant, K. Biedermann, and B. Büchner, Chem. Vap. Depos. 12, 380 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Y. Li, Z. Gan, and N. Wang, Tetrahedron 62, 4285 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. E. Otero, R.G. Wilks, T. Regier, R.I. Blyth, and A. Moewes, J. Phys. Chem. A 112, 624 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. I.S. Molchan, G.E. Thompson, P. Skeldon, R. Lindsay, J. Walton, E. Kouvelos, G.E. Romanos, P. Falaras, A.G. Kontos, M. Arfanis, E. Siranidi, L.F. Zubeir, M.C. Kroon, J. Klöckner, B. Ilievd, and T.J.S. Schubert, RSC Adv. 5, 35181 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. R. Kumar, S. Khan, N. Gupta, S. Naqvi, K. Gaurav, C. Sharma, M. Kumar, P. Kumar, and S. Chand, Carbon 107, 765 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Z. Guo, H. Liu, C. Jiang, Y. Zhu, M. Wan, L. Dai, and L. Jiang, Small 10, 2087 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. C. Zhu, H. Li, S. Fu, D. Du, and Y. Lin, Chem. Soc. Rev. 45, 517 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. G. Zhong, H. Wang, H. Yu, H. Wang, and F. Peng, Electrochim. Acta 190, 49 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. C. Wang, F. Yang, T. Qiu, Y. Cao, H. Zhong, C. Yu, R. Li, L. Mao, and Y. Li, J. Electroanal. Chem. 810, 62 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. W. Yan, Z. Yang, W. Bian, and R. Yang, Carbon 92, 74 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. J. Ma, D. Xiao, C.L. Chen, Q. Luo, Y. Yu, J. Zhou, C. Guo, K. Li, J. Ma, L. Zheng, and X. Zuo, J. Power Sources 378, 491 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. A.Z. Al-Hakemy, A.B.A.A. Nassr, A.H. Naggar, M.S. Elnouby, H.M.A. Soliman, and M.A. Taher, J. Appl. Electrochem. 47, 183 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. M.M. Hossen, K. Artyushkova, P. Atanassov, and A. Serov, J. Power Sources 375, 214 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. A.K. Mechler, N.R. Sahraie, V. Armel, A. Zitolo, M.T. Sougrati, J.N. Schwämmlein, D.J. Jones, and F. Jaouen, J. Electrochem. Soc. 165, F1084 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. M. Martins, O. Metin, B. Šljukić, M. Sevim, C. Sequeir, and D. Santos, Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 44, 14193 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. D. Geng, N. Ding, H.T.S. Andy, Z. Liu, X. Sun, and Y. Zong, J. Mater. Chem. A 3, 1795 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The author acknowledges the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Faisal University for the financial support under Nasher Track, Saudi Arabia (Grant No. 186166). The authors from the City of Scientific Research and Technological Applications, Alexandria, Egypt acknowledge the financial support for this work with SRTA City 2017–2022 fund plan.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Advanced Technology and New Materials Research Institute, City of Scientific Research and Technological Applications (SRTA-City), New Borg El-Arab City, Alexandria, 21934, Egypt

    Noha A. Elessawy

  2. Nanomaterials and Composites Research Department, Advanced Technology and New Materials Research Institute (ATNMRI), City of Scientific Research and Technological Applications (SRTA-City), New Borg El-Arab City, Alexandria, 21934, Egypt

    Mohamed Elnouby

  3. Chemistry Department, College of Science, King Faisal University, Al-Hassa, Saudi Arabia

    M. Gouda

  4. Polymer Materials Research Department, Advanced Technology and New Materials Research Institute, City of Scientific Research and Technological Applications (SRTA-City), New Borg El-Arab City, Alexandria, 21934, Egypt

    Mohamed S. Mohy Eldin

  5. Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University, Alexandria, 21544, Egypt

    Hassan A. Farag & Abdelaziz H. Konsowa

Authors
  1. Noha A. Elessawy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mohamed Elnouby
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. M. Gouda
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Mohamed S. Mohy Eldin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Hassan A. Farag
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Abdelaziz H. Konsowa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Noha A. Elessawy or M. Gouda.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Elessawy, N.A., Elnouby, M., Gouda, M. et al. Simple Self-assembly Synthesis for Cost-Effective Alkaline Fuel Cell Bi-functional Electrocatalyst Synthesized from Polyethylene Terephthalate Waste Bottles. J. Electron. Mater. 49, 1009–1016 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-019-07684-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-019-07684-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation