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Oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalysis in neutral media for bioelectrochemical systems

Nature Catalysis volume 5, pages 473–484 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is an electrochemical process of the utmost importance in energy conversion and storage, corrosion and chemical technologies. The ORR plays a major role in biological processes (such as respiratory biochemical chain reactions) and is being incorporated into numerous bioelectrochemical devices and systems, such as microbial and enzymatic fuel cells, microbiosynthesis processes, water desalination and purification technologies and biosensing. Researchers from various backgrounds have come together to address the specifics of the ORR in close-to-neutral environments in light of their possible integration with bioprocesses. Understanding the ORR mechanism in this pH region is complex, as it involves biotic (living systems or components derived thereof) and abiotic (often inorganic materials or composite) catalysts. This review offers a summary of catalyst-class-dependent ORR mechanisms and pathways with the corresponding limitations relevant to their practical use in bioelectrocatalytic systems. We also analyse the technological challenges often caused by the use of oxygen depolarization as the main driving force in practical applications.

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Fig. 1: ET mechanism in aqueous media for inorganic electrocatalysts.
Fig. 2: Type of inorganic electrocatalysts and their electrochemical performance.
Fig. 3: ET mechanism in MCOs.
Fig. 4: Parameters that affect the ORR biocathode.
Fig. 5: Oxygen transport phenomena within the cathode architecture.
Fig. 6: Key performance parameters of biotic and abiotic electrocatalysts.

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Acknowledgements

C.S. acknowledges support from the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca (MIUR)) through the ‘Rita Levi Montalcini 2018’ Fellowship (grant no. PGR18MAZLI). Support from the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MIUR) through grant ‘Dipartimenti di Eccellenza-2017—Materials for energy’ (2018-NAZ-0115) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Material Science, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy

    Carlo Santoro

  2. Department of Chemistry, Università degli Studi di Bari A. Moro, Bari, Italy

    Paolo Bollella

  3. Laboratoire de Génie Chimique, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, INPT, UPS, Toulouse, France

    Benjamin Erable

  4. Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and National Fuel Cell Research Center, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    Plamen Atanassov

  5. Separation and Conversion Technology, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Mol, Belgium

    Deepak Pant

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C.S., P.B. and B.E. conducted the literature search and wrote the manuscript. P.A. and D.P. supervised the study and wrote the manuscript. All the authors contributed to the responses of the reviewers.

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Correspondence to Deepak Pant.

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Nature Catalysis thanks Lior Elbaz, Chaozhong Guo and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–6 and Tables 1 and 2.

Source data

Source Data Fig. 1

Data source related to pH mechanism.

Source Data Fig. 2

Data source related to peak of power density.

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Santoro, C., Bollella, P., Erable, B. et al. Oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalysis in neutral media for bioelectrochemical systems. Nat Catal 5, 473–484 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-022-00787-2

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