Yeast Cells-Derived Hollow Core/Shell Heteroatom-Doped Carbon Microparticles for Sustainable Electrocatalysis

0452551 - ÚPT 2016 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Huang, X. - Zou, X. - Meng, Y. - Mikmeková, Eliška - Chen, H. - Voiry, D. - Goswami, A. - Chhowalla, M. - Asefa, T.
Yeast Cells-Derived Hollow Core/Shell Heteroatom-Doped Carbon Microparticles for Sustainable Electrocatalysis.
ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. Roč. 7, č. 3 (2015), s. 1978-1986. ISSN 1944-8244. E-ISSN 1944-8252
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT(CZ) LO1212; GA MŠMT ED0017/01/01
Institutional support: RVO:68081731
Keywords : yeast * heteroatom-doped carbon * oxygen reduction * ORR * hydrazine electrooxidation
Subject RIV: JA - Electronics ; Optoelectronics, Electrical Engineering
Impact factor: 7.145, year: 2015

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.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0253519