Progress of air-breathing cathode in microbial fuel cells

Wang, Zejie; Mahadevan, G.; Wu, Yicheng; Zhao, Feng

doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2017.02.004

Cited by 113 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…Nevertheless, the microbes using electron mediators are not suitable for commercial application as they are planktonic and could be easily washed out along with the effluent [15], and also has higher energy losses than other EET pathways [14]. Hence, it obvious that anode biofilm plays a key role in the electricity production of MFCs [16,17], as the bacteria that use direct electron transfer and solid conductive matrix pathway will be attached on the anode electrode.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Wall Boundary Layer Thickness on Power Performance of a Recirculation Microbial Fuel Cell

2018

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Abstract:Hydrodynamic boundary layer is a significant phenomenon occurring in a flow through a bluff body, and this includes the flow motion and mass transfer. Thus, it could affect the biofilm formation and the mass transfer of substrates in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Therefore, understanding the role of hydrodynamic boundary layer thicknesses in MFCs is truly important. In this study, three hydrodynamic boundary layers of thickness 1.6, 4.1, and 5 cm were applied to the recirculation mode membrane-less MFC to investigate the electricity production performance. The results showed that the thin hydrodynamic boundary could enhance the voltage output of MFC due to the strong shear rate effect. Thus, a maximum voltage of 21 mV was obtained in the MFC with a hydrodynamic boundary layer thickness of 1.6 cm, and this voltage output obtained was 15 times higher than that of MFC with 5 cm hydrodynamic boundary layer thickness. Moreover, the charge transfer resistance of anode decreased with decreasing hydrodynamic boundary layer thickness. The charge transfer resistance of MFC with hydrodynamic boundary layer of thickness 1.6 cm was 39 Ω, which was 0.79 times lesser than that of MFC with 5 cm thickness. These observations would be useful for enhancing the performance of recirculation mode MFCs.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Wall Boundary Layer Thickness on Power Performance of a Recirculation Microbial Fuel Cell

2018

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“…Recently the usage of carbonaceous materials like activated carbon (AC) [42], [43], [44], [45], [46], [47], [48], [49], [50], [51], [52], [53], carbon nanotubes (CNT) [54], [55], carbon nanofibers (CNF) [56], [57], [58], [59], graphene [60], [61], [62], [63] and modified carbon black [64], [65] in the cathodes has greatly increased. Those materials possess high surface area, electrical conductivity, mechanical strength and resistance to corrosion, moreover they are commercially readily available and very economical to use for large-scale applications [66].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bimetallic platinum group metal-free catalysts for high power generating microbial fuel cells

Kodali

Santoro

Herrera

et al. 2017

Journal of Power Sources

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M1-M2-N-C bimetallic catalysts with M1 as Fe and Co and M2 as Fe, Co, Ni and Mn were synthesized and investigated as cathode catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The catalysts were prepared by Sacrificial Support Method in which silica was the template and aminoantipyrine (AAPyr) was the organic precursor. The electro-catalytic properties of these catalysts were investigated by using rotating ring disk (RRDE) electrode setup in neutral electrolyte. Fe-Mn-AAPyr outperformed Fe-AAPyr that showed higher performances compared to Fe-Co-AAPyr and Fe-Ni-AAPyr in terms of half-wave potential. In parallel, Fe-Co-AAPyr, Co-Mn-AAPyr and Co-Ni-AAPyr outperformed Co-AAPyr. The presence of Co within the catalyst contributed to high peroxide production not desired for efficient ORR. The catalytic capability of the catalysts integrated in air-breathing cathode was also verified. It was found that Co-based catalysts showed an improvement in performance by the addition of second metal compared to simple Co- AAPyr. Fe-based bimetallic materials didn't show improvement compared to Fe-AAPyr with the exception of Fe-Mn-AAPyr catalyst that had the highest performance recorded in this study with maximum power density of 221.8 ± 6.6 μWcm−2. Activated carbon (AC) was used as control and had the lowest performances in RRDE and achieved only 95.6 ± 5.8 μWcm−2 when tested in MFC.

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“…In MFCs, the electrochemically active microorganisms' biofilm colonizes the anodic surface thus oxidizing organic pollutants producing electrons and protons. Electrons are transferred through an external circuit to the cathode where are received by the terminal electron acceptor while protons migrate through the membrane or solution to the cathode to keep electrical neutrality which creates potential difference [1,5]. 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.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, these metal ions found to cause secondary pollution as they exhibited potential leaching into solution. Beside, to have the same performance as platinum high loading is needed which ends up increasing the overall cost [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, current researches focus on limiting factors and ways to curb their effects thus increasing the performance [2,20,21]. Among others, is trying different MFC design configurations where MFC aircathode proved to more advantageous over double chamber for scaling up because of its simple structure, low cost and direct use oxygen in air, which could removes aeration from conventional wastewater treatment process [5,22]. Due to its high reduction potential and inexhaustible source, Oxygen is the most fairly used terminal electron acceptor and is considered to be competent for MFC air-cathode application and scale up as it plays a critical role in both organic oxidation and energy recovery at the cathode [23].…”

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confidence: 99%

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

Muhoza¹,

Ma²,

Kalakodio³

et al. 2017

Int J Waste Resour

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IntroductionMicrobial fuel cell (MFC) is a potential environmental friendly bioelectrochemical system as it combines treatment of organic wastes and electric energy generation [1][2][3][4]. In MFCs, the electrochemically active microorganisms' biofilm colonizes the anodic surface thus oxidizing organic pollutants producing electrons and protons. Electrons are transferred through an external circuit to the cathode where are received by the terminal electron acceptor while protons migrate through the membrane or solution to the cathode to keep electrical neutrality which creates potential difference [1,5]. 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]. Therefore, current researches focus on limiting factors and ways to curb their effects thus increasing the performance [2,20,21]. Among others, is trying different MFC design configurations where MFC aircathode proved to more advantageous over double chamber for scaling up because of its simple structure, low cost and direct use oxygen in air, which could removes aeration from conventional wastewater treatment process [5,22]. Due to its high reduction potential and inexhaustible source, Oxygen is the most fairly used terminal electron acceptor and is considered to be competent for MFC air-cathode application and scale up as it plays a critical role in both organic oxidation and energy recovery at the cathode [23]. AbstractMicrobial fuel cell (MFC) air cathode present a great potential among other configurations due to its simple design, low cost and direct use oxygen from air as terminal electron acceptor which could help to save tremendous energy used for aeration in conventional wastewater treatment. However, at the cathode oxygen reduction reaction which is vital to generate high power density is naturally slow, therefore a catalyst is needed to overcome its reaction over-potential. Platinum (Pt) is the standard used catalyst in large number of oxidation reduction reactions whether in basic or acidic electrolytes. But, due to its high cost and limited resources it doesn't make it a sustainable candidate for scaling up of this juvenile technology. Activated carbon was found to be a low cost and environmental friendly Ox...

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Progress of air-breathing cathode in microbial fuel cells

Cited by 113 publications

References 71 publications

Effect of Wall Boundary Layer Thickness on Power Performance of a Recirculation Microbial Fuel Cell

Effect of Wall Boundary Layer Thickness on Power Performance of a Recirculation Microbial Fuel Cell

Bimetallic platinum group metal-free catalysts for high power generating microbial fuel cells

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

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