Optimization of catalyst layer composition for abiotic glucose fuel cells using Fe/Co-N-C as oxygen reduction reaction catalysts

The focus in recent years has been on developing high-performance non-precious metal catalysts (NPMCs) to reduce the catalyst cost in abiotic glucose fuel cells. Despite that, there hasn t been much focus on increasing the utilization of NPMCs. Thus, this study focuses on the optimization of electrode components, particularly the Nafion content. With the synthesized Fe/Co-N-C oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst, the catalyst inks were prepared at various Nafion contents and evaluated by using cyclic voltammetry (CV), linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and chronoamperometry (CA) in 0.1M KOH as electrolyte. Ink with 66.7% Nafion showed the highest performance for the oxygen reduction reaction. These results were explained using the electrochemical impedance spectra, where the highest-performance electrode resulted in the lowest charge transfer resistance.Keywords: Abiotic glucose fuel cells, Non-precious metal catalysts, Nafion content, Dielectric constant, Oxygen reduction reaction. By synthesizing Fe/Co-N-C ORR catalysts and varying the Nafion content in the catalyst inks, the study shows that an ink with 66.7% Nafion content yields the highest ORR performance. These findings offer valuable insights into the rational design of efficient and cost-effective NPMC-based electrodes for glucose fuel cells.