Porous ceramic anode materials for photo-microbial fuel cells

Thorne, Rebecca Jayne; Hu, Huaining; Schneider, K.J.; Bombelli, Paolo; Fisher, Adrian C.; Peter, Laurence M.; Dent, Andrew C E; Cameron, Petra J.

doi:10.1039/c1jm13058g

Cited by 76 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…As an example of a potential application, previous work on porous ceramics for microbial fuel cells used an electrically insulating ceramic that required an additional chemical vapour deposition treatment to deposit a conductive fluorine tin oxide [6] and provide electrical conductivity. By adopting an electrically conductive MAX-phase material, such as Ti 2 AlC, the need for the additional conductive coating can be eliminated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Macro-porous Ti2AlC MAX-phase ceramics by the foam replication method

Bowen

Thomas

2015

Ceramics International

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This paper describes the fabrication of porous Ti 2 AlC MAX-phase ceramics using the foam replication technique. The influence of heattreatment cycle and sintering time on phase composition, microstructure and type of defect is discussed. Compression testing indicates that strength is related to defects that are introduced during the foam replication stage, as observed by optical and electron microscopy. The manufacturing process is adapted by employing additional coating stages to produce electrically conductive macro-porous ceramics with a range of strengths (0.2-6.3 MPa) and macrostructures. Such materials are of interest for use as a high surface area electrode for harsh environments or microbial fuel cells.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Macro-porous Ti2AlC MAX-phase ceramics by the foam replication method

Bowen

Thomas

2015

Ceramics International

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“…For electrodes that do not directly permeate the insulating cell membrane, the electrical and surface characteristics of the anode plays a critical role in extracellular electron transfer 26 . Anodes modified with a flexible redox polymer 27 , porous ceramic materials 28 , indium tin oxide-coated materials 29 , and nanomaterials 30 were shown to enhance electron transfer compared to conventional carbon-based anodes.…”

Section: Living Photovoltaics Are Limited By Efficient Charge Tranmentioning

confidence: 99%

A synthetic biology approach to engineering living photovoltaics

Schuergers

Werlang

Ajo‐Franklin

et al. 2017

Energy Environ. Sci.

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The ability to electronically interface living cells with electron accepting scaffolds is crucial for the development of next-generation biophotovoltaic technologies. Although recent studies have focused on engineering synthetic interfaces that can maximize electronic communication between the cell and scaffold, the efficiency of such devices is limited by the low conductivity of the cell membrane. This review provides a materials science perspective on applying a complementary, synthetic biology approach to engineering membrane-electrode interfaces. It focuses on the technical challenges behind the introduction of foreign extracellular electron transfer pathways in bacterial host cells and the past and future efforts to engineer photosynthetic organisms with artificial electron-export capabilities for biophotovoltaic applications. The article highlights advances in engineering protein-based, electron-exporting conduits in a model host organism, E. coli, before reviewing state-of-the-art biophotovoltaic technologies that use both unmodified and bioengineered photosynthetic bacteria with improved electron transport capabilities. A thermodynamic analysis is used to propose an energetically feasible pathway for extracellular electron transport in engineered cyanobacteria and identify metabolic bottlenecks amenable to protein engineering techniques. Based on this analysis, an engineered photosynthetic organism expressing a foreign, protein-based electron conduit yields a maximum theoretical solar conversion efficiency of 6–10% without accounting for additional bioengineering optimizations for light-harvesting.

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“…An ideal anode electrode should have a high surface area, high conductivity, biocompatibility, chemical stability, and three-dimensional (3D) macroporous structure to allow microbes to colonize or access for electron transfer [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. Various conductive porous and three-dimensional materials have been investigated as MFC anodes, including carbon cloth [18], conductive textiles [10], and carbon nanotube (CNT)/graphene coated sponges [12,19], layered corrugated carbon [20], electrospun and solution blown carbon fibers [21], and porous ceramic anode [22] however, all the reported fibers are made of materials from graphite mines and have a solid structure with limited surface area that are difficult to be implemented in engineering systems due to the high weight, high cost, and unsustainable nature. Only a few current studies have developed sustainable and low cost anodes from natural materials for MFCs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%