From bio-mineralisation to fuel cells: biomanufacture of Pt and Pd nanocrystals for fuel cell electrode catalyst

Ping Yong, Marion Paterson-Beedle, Iryna Mikheenko, Lynne Macaskie

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

40 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Biosynthesis of nano-scale platinum and palladium was achieved via enzymatically-mediated deposition of metal ions from solution. The bio-accumulated Pt(0) and Pd(0) crystals were dried, applied onto carbon paper and tested as anodes in a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell for power production. Up to 100% and 81% of the maximum power generation was achieved by the bio-Pt and bio-Pd catalysts, respectively, compared to commercial fuel cell grade Pt catalyst. Hence, biomineralisation could pave the way for economical production of fuel cell catalysts since previous studies have shown that precious metals can be biorecovered from wastes into catalytically active bionanomaterials.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)539-544
Number of pages6
JournalBiotechnology Letters
Volume29
Issue number4
Early online date13 Feb 2007
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 6 Mar 2007

Keywords

  • palladium
  • fuel cells
  • platinum
  • Desulfovibrio desulfuricans
  • catalysts

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