Abstract
The use of renewable resources to make various synthetic materials is increasing in order to meet some of our sustainability challenges. Yeast is one of the most common household ingredients, which is cheap and easy to reproduce. Herein we report that yeast cells can be thermally transformed into hollow, core-shell heteroatom-doped carbon microparticles that can effectively electrocatalyze the oxygen reduction and hydrazine oxidation reactions, reactions that are highly pertinent to fuel cells or renewable energy applications. We also show that yeast cell walls, which can easily be separated from the cells, can produce carbon materials with electrocatalytic activity for both reactions, albeit with lower activity compared with the ones obtained from intact yeast cells. The results reveal that the intracellular components of the yeast cells such as proteins, phospholipids, DNAs and RNAs are indirectly responsible for the latter's higher electrocatalytic activity, by providing it with more heteroatom dopants. The synthetic method we report here can serve as a general route for the synthesis of (electro)catalysts using microorganisms as raw materials.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1978-1986 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 28 2015 |
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Keywords
- heteroatom-doped carbon
- hydrazine electrooxidation
- ORR
- oxygen reduction
- yeast
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Materials Science(all)
Cite this
Yeast cells-derived hollow core/shell heteroatom-doped carbon microparticles for sustainable electrocatalysis. / Huang, Xiaoxi; Zou, Xiaoxin; Meng, Yuying; Mikmeková, Eliška; Chen, Hui; Voiry, Damien; Goswami, Anandarup; Chhowalla, Manish; Asefa, Teddy.
In: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Vol. 7, No. 3, 28.01.2015, p. 1978-1986.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Yeast cells-derived hollow core/shell heteroatom-doped carbon microparticles for sustainable electrocatalysis
AU - Huang, Xiaoxi
AU - Zou, Xiaoxin
AU - Meng, Yuying
AU - Mikmeková, Eliška
AU - Chen, Hui
AU - Voiry, Damien
AU - Goswami, Anandarup
AU - Chhowalla, Manish
AU - Asefa, Teddy
PY - 2015/1/28
Y1 - 2015/1/28
N2 - The use of renewable resources to make various synthetic materials is increasing in order to meet some of our sustainability challenges. Yeast is one of the most common household ingredients, which is cheap and easy to reproduce. Herein we report that yeast cells can be thermally transformed into hollow, core-shell heteroatom-doped carbon microparticles that can effectively electrocatalyze the oxygen reduction and hydrazine oxidation reactions, reactions that are highly pertinent to fuel cells or renewable energy applications. We also show that yeast cell walls, which can easily be separated from the cells, can produce carbon materials with electrocatalytic activity for both reactions, albeit with lower activity compared with the ones obtained from intact yeast cells. The results reveal that the intracellular components of the yeast cells such as proteins, phospholipids, DNAs and RNAs are indirectly responsible for the latter's higher electrocatalytic activity, by providing it with more heteroatom dopants. The synthetic method we report here can serve as a general route for the synthesis of (electro)catalysts using microorganisms as raw materials.
AB - The use of renewable resources to make various synthetic materials is increasing in order to meet some of our sustainability challenges. Yeast is one of the most common household ingredients, which is cheap and easy to reproduce. Herein we report that yeast cells can be thermally transformed into hollow, core-shell heteroatom-doped carbon microparticles that can effectively electrocatalyze the oxygen reduction and hydrazine oxidation reactions, reactions that are highly pertinent to fuel cells or renewable energy applications. We also show that yeast cell walls, which can easily be separated from the cells, can produce carbon materials with electrocatalytic activity for both reactions, albeit with lower activity compared with the ones obtained from intact yeast cells. The results reveal that the intracellular components of the yeast cells such as proteins, phospholipids, DNAs and RNAs are indirectly responsible for the latter's higher electrocatalytic activity, by providing it with more heteroatom dopants. The synthetic method we report here can serve as a general route for the synthesis of (electro)catalysts using microorganisms as raw materials.
KW - heteroatom-doped carbon
KW - hydrazine electrooxidation
KW - ORR
KW - oxygen reduction
KW - yeast
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84921814271&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84921814271&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/am507787t
DO - 10.1021/am507787t
M3 - Article
C2 - 25547005
AN - SCOPUS:84921814271
VL - 7
SP - 1978
EP - 1986
JO - ACS applied materials & interfaces
JF - ACS applied materials & interfaces
SN - 1944-8244
IS - 3
ER -