Multifunctional ammonium fuel cell using compost as a novel electro-catalyst

Abstract

Due to acute ammonium toxicity, it is always desirable to find a cheaper and abundant electro-catalyst other than platinum, iridium oxide, boron diamond etc with a high selectivity and negligible de-activation for its oxidation. Also ammonium is not known for electricity generation except biological nitrification process. So this paper elucidates the studies of compost as a novel electro-catalyst in a ammonium fuel cell configuration. These studies are done by varying type of electrodes & compost as well as ammonium concentration. Bi-polar cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, temperature dependence, cyclic stability and chronoamperometry techniques are used to study compost. Cow dung based compost is found to show the best electro-catalytic activity. IV measurements are conducted to study power generation in tune with the electro-catalytic activity. Finally, polarization and sustainability measurements are done on a comparatively larger fuel cell to check the size scalability. The results shows that the maximum power density is 108 mW/m(2) and this multifunctional device can be fueled after every 12 h for continuous operation and with negligible de-activation of electro-catalyst. These studies opens a window for doing further advanced research in compost triggered electro-catalysis to make multifunctional fuel cell devices for solving environmental and energy issues together.