Engineering Commons^™

Defect Mediated Electrochemical Hydrogenation Of Epitaxial Graphene: Towards Graphene Based Microbial Fuel Cells, Kevin Michael Daniels

Theses and Dissertations

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are seen as a promising complementary technology to alleviate the exponentially increasing worldwide energy demand. MFCs use bacteria to extract energy from biomass, where choice of electrode materials has a strong impact on energy extraction and efficiency. Graphene, a single monolayer of carbon with exceptional electrical conductivity and high surface area, is seen as a promising material with the potential of improving charge transfer and bacterial adhesion. To probe this reactivity, a novel means of hydrogenation of graphene by electrochemistry is demonstrated.

In this thesis, electrochemical hydrogenation of epitaxial graphene (EG), graphene grown on silicon carbide …