Integrated Wastewater Remediation and Energy Production: Microfluidic Photocatalytic Fuel Cells Enabled by Dye Pollutants
Directly degrading the dyes in the wastewater is a missed opportunity. Herein, we propose a solution employing a microfluidic chip to construct a photocatalytic fuel cell (PFC) system, which can efficiently degrade tetracycline while generating electricity simultaneously under visible-light irradiat...
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MDPI AG
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Micromachines |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/16/3/312 |
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| author | Youquan Zhou Fangzhou Luo Zhichao Wang Jiayi Zhu Hao Yang |
| author_facet | Youquan Zhou Fangzhou Luo Zhichao Wang Jiayi Zhu Hao Yang |
| author_sort | Youquan Zhou |
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| description | Directly degrading the dyes in the wastewater is a missed opportunity. Herein, we propose a solution employing a microfluidic chip to construct a photocatalytic fuel cell (PFC) system, which can efficiently degrade tetracycline while generating electricity simultaneously under visible-light irradiation. This approach utilizes the photogenerated electrons from the dye Rhodamine B (RhB), which are effectively transferred through a gold layer to activate persulfate in water, leading to enhanced tetracycline degradation. Experimental results reveal that within one hour of reaction duration, the degradation efficiency of tetracycline within the PFC system was doubled. At a persulfate (PS) concentration of 2 mM, the system’s open-circuit voltage and short-circuit photocurrent density reached 0.26 V and 0.00239 mA·cm<sup>−2</sup> respectively, both exceeding the values detected at 0.5 mM PS. Additionally, the system’s power density was triple that at 0.5 mM PS. Notably, when the PS concentration in the system was elevated from 0.5 mM to 2 mM, the degradation efficiency of tetracycline witnessed a significant boost from 35.16% to 60.78%. This approach proffers a novel tactic for harnessing dye waste via microfluidic devices. The PFC system accomplishes not only the degradation of dyes and antibiotics but also the generation of electrical energy, substantially enhancing the energy utilization efficiency. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e01fd04c896f4b5595f26bbcfd3627eb |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2072-666X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Micromachines |
| spelling | doaj-art-e01fd04c896f4b5595f26bbcfd3627eb2025-08-20T03:43:25ZengMDPI AGMicromachines2072-666X2025-03-0116331210.3390/mi16030312Integrated Wastewater Remediation and Energy Production: Microfluidic Photocatalytic Fuel Cells Enabled by Dye PollutantsYouquan Zhou0Fangzhou Luo1Zhichao Wang2Jiayi Zhu3Hao Yang4National Engineering Research Center of Fiber Optic Sensing Technology and Networks, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, ChinaNational Engineering Research Center of Fiber Optic Sensing Technology and Networks, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, ChinaNational Engineering Research Center of Fiber Optic Sensing Technology and Networks, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, ChinaNational Engineering Research Center of Fiber Optic Sensing Technology and Networks, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, ChinaWuhan Fibers Technology Co., LTD, Wuhan 430223, ChinaDirectly degrading the dyes in the wastewater is a missed opportunity. Herein, we propose a solution employing a microfluidic chip to construct a photocatalytic fuel cell (PFC) system, which can efficiently degrade tetracycline while generating electricity simultaneously under visible-light irradiation. This approach utilizes the photogenerated electrons from the dye Rhodamine B (RhB), which are effectively transferred through a gold layer to activate persulfate in water, leading to enhanced tetracycline degradation. Experimental results reveal that within one hour of reaction duration, the degradation efficiency of tetracycline within the PFC system was doubled. At a persulfate (PS) concentration of 2 mM, the system’s open-circuit voltage and short-circuit photocurrent density reached 0.26 V and 0.00239 mA·cm<sup>−2</sup> respectively, both exceeding the values detected at 0.5 mM PS. Additionally, the system’s power density was triple that at 0.5 mM PS. Notably, when the PS concentration in the system was elevated from 0.5 mM to 2 mM, the degradation efficiency of tetracycline witnessed a significant boost from 35.16% to 60.78%. This approach proffers a novel tactic for harnessing dye waste via microfluidic devices. The PFC system accomplishes not only the degradation of dyes and antibiotics but also the generation of electrical energy, substantially enhancing the energy utilization efficiency.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/16/3/312photocatalytic fuel cellsRhBantibiotic degradation |
| spellingShingle | Youquan Zhou Fangzhou Luo Zhichao Wang Jiayi Zhu Hao Yang Integrated Wastewater Remediation and Energy Production: Microfluidic Photocatalytic Fuel Cells Enabled by Dye Pollutants Micromachines photocatalytic fuel cells RhB antibiotic degradation |
| title | Integrated Wastewater Remediation and Energy Production: Microfluidic Photocatalytic Fuel Cells Enabled by Dye Pollutants |
| title_full | Integrated Wastewater Remediation and Energy Production: Microfluidic Photocatalytic Fuel Cells Enabled by Dye Pollutants |
| title_fullStr | Integrated Wastewater Remediation and Energy Production: Microfluidic Photocatalytic Fuel Cells Enabled by Dye Pollutants |
| title_full_unstemmed | Integrated Wastewater Remediation and Energy Production: Microfluidic Photocatalytic Fuel Cells Enabled by Dye Pollutants |
| title_short | Integrated Wastewater Remediation and Energy Production: Microfluidic Photocatalytic Fuel Cells Enabled by Dye Pollutants |
| title_sort | integrated wastewater remediation and energy production microfluidic photocatalytic fuel cells enabled by dye pollutants |
| topic | photocatalytic fuel cells RhB antibiotic degradation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/16/3/312 |
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