Engineering Pt–S–Mo and Pd–S–Mo sites in hierarchical porous MoS2 for boosted oxygen reduction activity in microbial fuel cell

Efficient and stable electrocatalysts with low platinum content are crucial for the practical application of fuel cells. The development of Pt-based single atom catalysts (SACs) has emerged as a promising research direction. In this study, we design and prepare a SACs based on MoS2 with Pt–S–Mo and Pd–S–Mo active sites (Pd, Pt–MoS2) by successively occupying vacancies, while maintaining the individual characteristics of the active sites. The resulting Pd, Pt–MoS2 catalyst exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), long-term stability, and resistance to common poisons (SCN−, S2−, and methanol) under neutral conditions. Meanwhile, the microbial fuel cell (MFC) equipped with Pd, Pt–MoS2 exhibits excellent performance in terms of actual electricity generation performance and sewage purification capacity with an ultrahigh power density, average chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal rate, and coulombic efficiency (CE) of 1398.6 ± 43.5 mW m−2, 96.2 ± 2.2 %, and 22.5 ± 0.5 %, respectively. This strategy will provide new insights into the development of advanced bimetallic as well as polymetallic doped vacancies of MoS2 SACs. [Display omitted] •A feasible approach for the design of bimetallic single atom catalysts.•One SACs based on MoS2 was prepared by successively occupying vacancies.•Pd, Pt–MoS2 catalyst exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity for ORR.•Optimized catalyst exhibits excellent capacity in electricity generation.