Carbon dioxide conversion to acetate and methane in a microbial electrosynthesis cell employing an electrically-conductive polymer cathode modified by nickel-based coatings

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DOI	Resolve DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2021.10.003
Author	Search for: Nwanebu, Emmanuel¹; Search for: Omanovic, Sasha; Search for: Hrapovic, Sabahudin²; Search for: Gomez Vidales, Abraham¹; Search for: Tartakovsky, Boris¹
Affiliation	National Research Council Canada. Energy, Mining and Environment National Research Council Canada. Aquatic and Crop Resource Development
Format	Text, Article
Subject	CO₂ conversion; microbial electrosynthesis; conductive polymer cathode; Ni-Fe-Mn alloy
Abstract	In this study, CO₂ conversion to acetate and CH₄ was achieved in a flow-through laboratory-scale microbial electrosynthesis (MES) cell composed of a 3D conductive polylactic acid (cPLA) lattice cathode with electrodeposited metal electrocatalyst coatings. The MES cell with a bare cPLA cathode showed the poorest performance with the lowest H₂ and CH₄ production rates and low Coulombic efficiency. This was ascribed to a poor electrocatalytic activity of cPLA towards H₂ production and high electrode resistivity. When the cPLA electrode was modified with metal coatings, the CH₄, acetate and H₂ production rate increased significantly, with the following trend: cPLA < Ni < NiFe < NiFeMn. The better performance of the metal-coated cPLA in terms of CH₄ production was attributed to the lower electrical resistance, enhanced H₂ production and enhanced electron transfer between the cathode and the biofilm. At the cell potential of 2.8 V, the best-performing NiFeMn cPLA cathode showed stable production of CH₄ (50 ± 6 mL d⁻¹), acetate (185 ± 27 mg d⁻¹), and H₂ (545 ± 175 mL d⁻¹) at close to 100% Coulombic efficiency.
Publication date	2021-10-23
Publisher	Elsevier International Association for Hydrogen Energy
In	International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 47, no. 1 (23 October 2021): 203–215.
Language	English
Peer reviewed	Yes
NRC number	NRC-ACRD-PDB099
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Record identifier	f6117b0a-d370-471c-9df7-3bfebbd3c926
Record created	2022-01-21
Record modified	2022-01-21

Date modified:: 2026-01-23