Microbial fuel cells: From fundamentals to applications. A review

Abstract

In the past 10–15 years, the microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology has captured the attention of the scientific community for the possibility of transforming organic waste directly into electricity through microbially catalyzed anodic, and microbial/enzymatic/abiotic cathodic electrochemical reactions. In this review, several aspects of the technology are considered. Firstly, a brief history of abiotic to biological fuel cells and subsequently, microbial fuel cells is presented. Secondly, the development of the concept of microbial fuel cell into a wider range of derivative technologies, called bioelectrochemical systems, is described introducing briefly microbial electrolysis cells, microbial desalination cells and microbial electrosynthesis cells. The focus is then shifted to electroactive biofilms and electron transfer mechanisms involved with solid electrodes. Carbonaceous and metallic anode materials are then introduced, followed by an explanation of the electro catalysis of the oxygen reduction reaction and its behavior in neutral media, from recent studies. Cathode catalysts based on carbonaceous, platinum-group metal and platinum-group-metal-free materials are presented, along with membrane materials with a view to future directions. Finally, microbial fuel cell practical implementation, through the utilization of energy output for practical applications, is described.

Design of Iron(II) Phthalocyanine‐Derived Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalysts for High‐Power‐Density Microbial Fuel Cells

“…A direct comparison with previously reported materials is difficult owing to the different operating conditions utilized. The performance is effected dramatically by the MFC design,1 operating temperature,74 altitude above sea level, electrolyte utilized (different solution conductivity),43 bacteria utilized (e.g., single or mixed culture),1 organic compounds utilized (e.g., lactate, acetate, fumarate, etc. ),3, 75 organics concentration,74 and the presence or absence of membranes 66.…”

“…Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are very attractive bioelectrochemical systems capable of degrading and removing organic pollutants and generating electricity 1, 2, 3. To be competitive with existing wastewater‐treatment approaches, the pollutant‐removal efficiency has to be increased considerably; therefore, the kinetics of water purification should be accelerated.…”

“…In general, the power/current produced in MFCs is quite low, the electrochemical processes require substantial optimization, and, in parallel, the losses associated with these processes have to be reduced 4, 5. To date, several successful prototypes and scaled‐up systems have been presented to demonstrate the potential of MFC technology for both wastewater treatment and clean‐energy generation 1, 2, 6, 7…”

The Use of Methane in Practical Solutions of Environmental Engineering

“…Hydrogen can be obtained in a thermal or electrochemical way from natural fuels and water. The research on the biological methods is also being carried out in the world [Santoro et al, 2017].…”

Enhancing Catalyst Efficiency of Activated Carbon for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Air Cathode Microbial Fuel Cell Application

“…Several applications of this technology such as hydrogen gas production [6], hydrogen peroxide generation [7], desalination [8][9][10], remote sensors and monitoring devices [11,12] metal recovery at cathode [13] and robots [12,14] to mention but few, have been studied and left researchers with more innovation ideas in the field. Having electrochemical processes catalyzed by biological processes in addition to some other design parameters such as engineering of microbial biofilm structure, decrypting electron transfer mechanisms, cell/reactor configuration, electrode materials and geometries, substrate concentration, retention time, and optimizing cathode catalysts [15,16] makes this system more sensitive to internal losses and gives it a certain level of complexity [17,18]. This and other challenges that are still unanswered are the bottlenecks for MFC application in real environment [15,19].…”