Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 Nov 10;17(11):2587.
doi: 10.3390/s17112587.

Carbon-Based Nanomaterials in Biomass-Based Fuel-Fed Fuel Cells

Le Quynh Hoa  1 , Mun'delanji C Vestergaard  2 , Eiichi Tamiya  3
Affiliations
Review

Carbon-Based Nanomaterials in Biomass-Based Fuel-Fed Fuel Cells

Le Quynh Hoa et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

Environmental and sustainable economical concerns are generating a growing interest in biofuels predominantly produced from biomass. It would be ideal if an energy conversion device could directly extract energy from a sustainable energy resource such as biomass. Unfortunately, up to now, such a direct conversion device produces insufficient power to meet the demand of practical applications. To realize the future of biofuel-fed fuel cells as a green energy conversion device, efforts have been devoted to the development of carbon-based nanomaterials with tunable electronic and surface characteristics to act as efficient metal-free electrocatalysts and/or as supporting matrix for metal-based electrocatalysts. We present here a mini review on the recent advances in carbon-based catalysts for each type of biofuel-fed/biofuel cells that directly/indirectly extract energy from biomass resources, and discuss the challenges and perspectives in this developing field.

Keywords: biofuel cells; biomass; carbon nanodots; carbon nanotubes; carbon-based nanomaterials; graphene.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The conventional process and challenges in converting biomass sources into biofuels and ultimately generate energy in form of electricity.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Summary of applications and main advantages of different types fuel cells (CHP stands for combined heat and power systems. The power unit is Watt).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Carbon-based nanomaterials that have been and have potential to be used for biofuel-fed fuel cells.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Proposed biomimetic functionalized carbon nanotubes-based catalyst for direct breaking down of cellulose. Reprinted with permission from ref. [49]. Copyright 2011, RSC.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Power density of monosaccharide-based fuel cells using AuNPs/fMWCNTs as anodic catalyst in comparison with bare Au electrode. Reprinted with permission from ref. [66]. Copyright 2011, Elservier.
Figure 6
Figure 6
(A) Air-glucose fuel cell prototype and (B) its performance in terms of polarization and power density. Glucose concentration was 0.4 M in 0.3 M NaOH and 0.1 M PBS; temperature was 25 °C. The working voltage of the LED lamp was 2 V. Reprinted with permission from ref. [66]. Copyright 2011, Elsevier.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Ethanol oxidation reaction pathway.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Development of anodic catalytic materials for enhanced direct ethanol fuel cells using co-assembled PANI–PPY and functionalized carbon nanotubes matrices.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Fuel cell components and the assembly of hydrogen fuel cell with bioreactor.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Demirbas A. Biofuels: Securing the Planet’s Future Energy Needs. 1st ed. Springer; London, UK: 2009. pp. 231–260.
    1. Gaurav N., Sivasankari S., Kiran G.S., Ninawea A., Selvin J. Utilization of bioresources for sustainable biofuels: A Review. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 2017;73:205–214. doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2017.01.070. - DOI
    1. Somerville C., Youngs H., Taylor C., Davis S.C., Long S.P. Feedstocks for Lignocellulosic Biofuels. Science. 2010;329:790–792. doi: 10.1126/science.1189268. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chaemchuen S., Zhou K., Verpoort F. From Biogas to Biofuel: Materials Used for Biogas Cleaning to Biomethane. ChemBioEng Rev. 2016;3:250–265. doi: 10.1002/cben.201600016. - DOI
    1. Abatzoglou N., Boivin S. A review of biogas purification processes. Biofuels Bioprod. Biorefin. 2009;3:42–71. doi: 10.1002/bbb.117. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources