Glycerol Stabilized NaBH4 Reduction for Preparation Carbon Supported Pt-Ni Alloy Nanoparticles Used as Oxygen-Reduction Electrocatalysts for Microbial Fuel Cells

The high cost and insufficient catalytic activity of carbon-supported Pt nanoparticle catalysts are two main problems in the commercial deployment of microbial fuel cell (MFC). In an effort to address these barriers, three carbon-supported Pt-Ni alloy electrocatalysts with varying Pt:Ni atom ratios (Pt-3-Ni/C, Pt-2-Ni/C, Pt-Ni/C) were prepared by simple NaBH4 reduction in glycerol at room temperature. All of the prepared Pt-Ni alloy nanoparticles (NPs) are highly dispersed on a carbon support and show a single-phase face-centered cubic structure with a particle size of 2.4-3.0 nm. The electrocatalytic performances of the synthesized Pt-Ni alloy catalysts were compared with that of commercial Pt/C by cyclic voltammetry and linear sweep voltammetry; among these NPs, the Pt-2-Ni/C catalyst exhibits the highest activity for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in 0.1M HClO4. As the cathode catalyst, the maximum power density produced from MFC with Pt-2-Ni/C (1724 mW m(-2)) was 22% higher than that with commercial Pt/C (1413 mW m(-2)).