Investigation of the lamination of electrospun graphene-poly(vinyl alcohol) composite onto an electrode of bio-electro-Fenton microbial fuel cell

Abstract

The bio-electron-Fenton system integrates microbial fuel cell and Fenton process into a single system to destroy the organic and bio-refractory contaminants in wastewater. Its performance is closely dependent on the sufficient electron supplement by the oxidation process in anode chamber and the reduction process in cathode chamber. This article presents a novel cathode of a bio-electron-Fenton system which can simultaneously achieve good electron supplement and the wastewater treatment in cathode chamber. The cathode consists of indium-tin-oxide conductive glass on which layers of graphene-poly(vinyl alcohol) composite are sprayed by electrospinning. The material characterization is verified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The voltage, current, and power density of the system are verified by cyclic voltammetry. The wastewater treatment is verified by dye decolorization. With the addition ratio of 4 wt% graphene, the system achieves the optimal power density of 74.1 mW/m 2 , open-circuit voltage of 0.42 V, and the decolorization of reactive black 5 of 60.25%. By constant-resistance discharge testing within three-cycle, the system can stably supply a maximum voltage of 0.41 V or above. Hence, the proposed electrospun graphene-poly(vinyl alcohol) composite cathode electrode can not only improve the power-supply efficiency but also enhance the efficiency of wastewater treatment.

Preparation of PLGA/MWCNT Composite Nanofibers by Airflow Bubble-Spinning and Their Characterization

“…Its main working principle is to use electric field force to overcome the surface tension of the Taylor cone of solution or melt in the high voltage electric field environment, and the spinning liquid that undergoes charge transfer is stretched and refined to form nanofibers. Due to the high surface area, high surface activity and high surface energy, electrospun nanofibers can be used in a wide variety of applications such as nonwoven fabrics [ 1 ], sensorics [ 2 ], photonics [ 3 ], filtration [ 4 ], composites [ 5 ], wound dressing [ 6 ], tissue engineering [ 7 ], fuel cells [ 8 ] and so on. However, due to the low production volume of conventional single-needle electrostatic spinning, the application of nanofibers in commercial production is inhibited, and its yield is usually 0.01–0.1 g/h [ 9 ].…”