Effect of Electrode Coating with Graphene Suspension on Power Generation of Microbial Fuel Cells

Abstract

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs), which can generate low-pollution power through microbial decomposition, are a potentially vital technology with applications in environmental protection and energy recovery. The electrode materials used in MFCs are crucial determinants of their capacity to generate electricity. In this study, we proposed an electrode surface modification method to enhance the bacterial adhesion and increase the power generation in MFCs. Graphene suspension (GS) is selected as modifying reagent, and thin films of graphene are fabricated on an electrode substrate by spin-coating. Application of this method makes it easy to control the thickness of graphene film. Moreover, the method has the advantage of low cost and large-area fabrication. To understand the practicality of the method, the effects of the number of coating layers and drying temperature of the graphene films on the MFCs' performance levels are investigated. The results indicate that when the baking temperature is increased from 150 to 325 • C, MFC power generation can increase approximately 4.5 times. Besides, the maximum power density of MFCs equipped with a four-layer graphene anode is approximately four times that of MFCs equipped with a two-layer graphene anode. An increase in baking temperature or number of coating layers of graphene films enhances the performance of MFC power generation. The reason can be attributed to the graphene purity and amount of graphene adhering to the surface of electrode.

Advances in Anode Materials for Microbial Fuel Cells

“…For example, graphene suspension (GS) spin‐coated on SSM electrodes performed best when the baking temperature was 325 °C and there were four layers of GS in the MFCs. [ 63 ] In addition, Gr‐modified anode materials can also be prepared by conventional methods such as centrifugal grinding, [ 64 ] chemical vapor deposition, [ 65,66 ] epitaxial growth, [ 67 ] and hydrothermal reduction, [ 68 ] but these methods often require specific equipment. Especially, the hydrothermal reduction process requires not only binders, [ 69 ] but also reducing agents and surfactants for the preparation of r‐GO.…”

Graphene and Other 2D Layered Hybrid Nanomaterial-Based Films: Synthesis, Properties, and Applications

“…Briefly, the fundamental work conducted by Lee et al [22] provides a valuable insight into the nondestructive transfer of graphene from the surface of a metal catalyst to target substrates, without dissolving the metallic catalyst by chemical etching. Tsai et al [23] report the preparation of a graphene-coated electrode by a spin-coating technique and the consequent effect on enhancing bacterial adhesion and increasing the power generation of the deposited film in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Lv and Zhao et al have investigated the preparation by a chemical vapour deposition (CVD) technique and photoluminescence properties of a WS 2 monolayer (which is a direct bandgap semiconductor) [24] in a first article and the preparation of mono-and few-layered MoS 2 by a CVD technique using water as a transport agent and growth promoter of the MoS 2 sheets [25] in a second paper.…”

Transient Electromagnetic Analysis of Multilayer Graphene with Dielectric Substrate Using Marching-on-in-Degree Method

“…Graphene is a promising 2D material in a wide variety of applications, e.g., THz devices [1], metamaterial [1,2], power generation [3], transmission lines and components anticorrosion [4,5], heat management [6,7], super capacitor [8], electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding [9], electronic skin [10], etc. Time domain full-wave numerical methods [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] are critical in transient electromagnetic analysis, and the time domain integral equation (TDIE) of surface electric currents has been solved successfully with the marching-on-in-degree (MOD) method to analyze the monolayer graphene in free space [18].…”