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Physically mixed Ni2Co/graphene catalyst for enhanced glucose oxidation in a glucose fuel cell

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Abstract

Glucose oxidation reaction is kinetically sluggish and demands a highly efficient catalyst. Herein, we report a direct glucose alkaline fuel cell (DGAFC) using physically mixed Ni2Co nanoparticles and reduced graphene oxide (Ni2Co-rGO) supported on nickel foam as an anode to promote glucose oxidation. The DGAFC with the Ni2Co-rGO anode delivered a remarkably enhanced peak power density of 40.44 W/m2 at room temperature, which was 74.91% higher than the control (23.12 W/m2). Different techniques including XPS, SEM, linear sweep voltammetry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were used to explore the physiochemical and electrochemical properties of the catalyst. Our results demonstrate that Ni2Co-rGO exhibits an excellent activity toward glucose oxidation in alkaline medium, leading to a drastic improvement in the anode performance. There should be a synergistic effect between rGO and Ni2Co. In the Ni2Co-rGO nanocomposite, rGO not only acts as a support for the Ni2Co nanoparticles and also promotes the electron transfer during the glucose oxidation process. This study can promote the development of bi-transition metal-based catalysts for DGAFCs.

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Funding

This work was partially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2019YFC1407800) and the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin City (Grant No. 19YFZCSN01130).

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Author notes

  1. Yang Li and Jie Ding contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300354, People’s Republic of China

    Yang Li, Jie Ding, Xianhua Liu, Jiao Wang, Shipu Jiao, Ning Kang, Jingyu Li & Muhammad Irfan

  2. College of Food Science and Engineering, Tianjin Agricultural University, Tianjin, 300384, People’s Republic of China

    Pingping Zhang

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  1. Yang Li
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  2. Jie Ding
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  3. Xianhua Liu
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Correspondence to Xianhua Liu.

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Highlights

• the catalyst has the advantages of low cost

Easy fabrication and high efficiency.

• Maximum power density of 40.44 W/m2 was obtained under ambient conditions.

• A synergistic effect between Ni2Co and graphene was proposed.

• This study can facilitate the development of cost-effective catalysts for DGAFC

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Li, Y., Ding, J., Liu, X. et al. Physically mixed Ni2Co/graphene catalyst for enhanced glucose oxidation in a glucose fuel cell. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 14, 525–537 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-022-02317-3

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