The Effect of Intermittent Limiting Anodic Current Stimulation on the Electro Activity of Anodic Biofilms

Abstract

Journal of Advanced Chemical EngineeringZhang et al., J Adv Chem Eng 2017, 7:1 DOI: 10.4172/2090 Volume AbstractElectro active biofilms is key components of bio electrochemical systems. Anodic biofilms formed by a potentialadaptive way (i.e., operation with constant external resistance or poised anode potentials) generally lack the ability to adapt to limiting currents. In the present study, a strategy based on intermittent limiting anodic current application was first employed to directly stimulate the current-adaptive growth of anodic biofilms, aiming to obtain electro active biofilms with high current adaptation. Series of intermittent limiting anodic current stimulations exhibit effectiveness for enhancing the electro-activity of anodic biofilms. Porous thick anodic biofilms with less extracellular polymeric substance production could be obtained by series of intermittent limiting anodic currents application from thin biofilms, generating robust anodic biofilms. The high stable power output of 4.35 W m −2 could be achieved with robust anodic biofilms at high working current of 9.5 A m −2 . The present study show that current is a crucial factor influencing the performance of electro-active biofilms, suggesting that an alternative current-adaptive method could be developed for the growth of electro active biofilms with high performance.

The effect of intermittent anode potential regimes on the morphology and extracellular matrix composition of electro-active bacteria

“…Higher current densities have been reported when electro-active bacteria are grown under intermittent anode potential regimes [ 9 , 10 ] compared to continuous potential. Until now, studies have focused on the EAB adaptation to this intermittent anode potential regime aiming at linking biofilm composition and morphology to bioanode performance (current, charge recovered and Coulombic efficiency) [ 11 , 12 ]. It has been observed that the biofilm morphology on the electrode changes to a more porous structure when an intermittent potential regime is applied [ 10 , 13 ].…”