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

• Published in: Journal of electronic materials Vol. 49; no. 2; pp. 1009 - 1016
• Main Authors: Elessawy, Noha A., Elnouby, Mohamed, Gouda, M., Mohy Eldin, Mohamed S., Farag, Hassan A., Konsowa, Abdelaziz H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-02-2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Bottles; Catalysts; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Electrolytic cells; Electronics and Microelectronics; Fuel cells; Fullerenes; Instrumentation; Iron oxides; Materials Science; Optical and Electronic Materials; Oxygen evolution reactions; Oxygen reduction reactions; Platinum; Polyethylene terephthalate; Self-assembly; Solid State Physics; bi-functional electrocatalyst; composite; alkaline fuel cell; fullerene; Upcycle plastic waste
• ISSN: 0361-5235; 1543-186X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11664-019-07684-8

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.