•  
  •  
 

Corresponding Author

Zhen-hai LIANG(liangzhenhai@tyut.edu.cn)

Abstract

In the present work, a dual-chamber microbial fuel cell (MFC) was constructed with aeration tank sludge as an inoculum, carbon felt as an anode and stainless steel mesh without any modification as a cathode. The influence of the cathode size was investigated in terms of voltage output, power generation and electrochemical impedance. The long-term durability of the stainless steel mesh cathode was also evaluated. Results showed that the stainless steel mesh exhibited satisfactory long-term durability as MFC cathode. When the stainless steel mesh size was 2 × 2 cm2, the maximum output voltage, power density, the internal resistance and the polarization resistance were 0.411 V, 0.303 W•m-2, 841 Ω and 80 Ω, respectively. Increasing the cathode size to 2 × 4 cm2, the maximum output voltage could reach 0.499 V, and the internal resistance reduced to 793 Ω. These studies demonstrated that the stainless steel mesh was suitable for MFC cathode because of its durability and low price.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords

stainless steel mesh, microbial fuel cells, cathode, electricity generation, durability

Publication Date

2016-02-29

Online Available Date

2015-11-03

Revised Date

2015-10-23

Received Date

2015-09-28

References

[1] Xie X, Ye M, Hsu P C, et al. Microbial battery for efficient energy recovery[J]. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2013, 110(40): 15925-15930.

[2] Lv Z S, Xie D H, Li F S, et al. Microbial fuel cell as a biocapacitor by using pseudo- capacitive anode materials[J]. Journal of Power Sources, 2014, 246: 642-649.

[3] Cusick R D, Kiely P D, Logan B E. A monetary comparison of energy recovered from microbial fuel cells and microbial electrolysis cells fed winery or domestic wastewaters[J]. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2010, 35(17): 8855-8861.

[4] Wang C T, Chen W J, Huang R Y. Influence of growth curve phase on electricity performance of microbial fuel cell by Escherichia coli[J]. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2010, 35(13): 7217-7223.

[5] Morris J M, Jin S, Wang J Q, et al. Lead dioxide as an alternative catalyst to platinum in microbial fuel cells[J]. Electrochemistry Communications, 2007, 9(7): 1730-1734.

[6] Zhao Y, Li P, Wang X B, et al. Influence of initial biofilm growth on electrochemical behavior in dual-chambered mediator microbial fuel cell[J]. Journal of Fuel Chemistry and Technology, 2012, 40(8): 967-972.

[7] Wei L L, Han H L, Shen J Q. Effects of cathodic electron acceptors and potassium ferricyanide concentrations on the performance of microbial fuel cell[J]. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2012, 37(17): 12980-12986.

[8] Freguia S, Rabaey K, Yuan Z, et al. Non-catalyzed cathodic oxygen reduction at graphite granules in microbial fuel cells[J]. Electrochimica Acta, 2007, 53(2): 598-603.

[9] Logen B E, Call D, Cheng S, et al. Microbial electrolysis cells for high yield hydrogen gas production from organic matter[J]. Environmental Science & Technology, 2008, 42(23): 8630-8640.

[10] De Silva Muňoz L, Bergel A, Féron D et al. Hydrogen production by electrolysis of a phosphate solution on a stainless steel cathode[J]. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2010, 35(16): 8561-8568.

[11] Zhang Y P, Sun J, Hu Y Y, et al. Bio-cathode materials evaluation in microbial fuel cells: A comparison of graphite felt, carbon paper and stainless steel mesh materials[J]. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2012, 37(22): 16935-16942.

[12] You S J, Wang X H, Zhang J N, et al. Fabrication of stainless steel mesh gas diffusion electrode for power generation in microbial fuel cell[J]. Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 2011, 26(5): 2142-2146.

[13] Feng C H, Wan Q Y, Lv Z S, et al. One-step fabrication of membraneless microbial fuel cell cathode by electropolymerization of polypyrrole onto stainless steel mesh[J]. Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 2011, 26(9): 3953-3957.

[14] Wei L L, Han H L, Shen J Q. Effects of cathodic electron acceptors and potassium ferricyanide concentrations on the performance of microbial fuel cell[J]. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2012, 37(17): 12980-12986.

[15] Pinto R P, Srinivasan B, Guiot S R, et al. The effect of real-time external resistance optimization on microbial fuel cell performance[J]. Water Research, 2011, 45(4): 1571-1578.

[16] Zhang Y P, Hu Y Y, Li S Z, et al. Manganese dioxide-coated carbon nanotubes as an improved cathodic catalyst for oxygen reduction in a microbial fuel cell[J]. Journal of Power Sources, 2011, 196(22): 9284-9289.

[17] Zhang J N(张金娜), Zhao Q L(赵庆良), You S J(尤世界), et al. Power generation in biocathode microbial fuel cell with different cathode materials[J]. Chemical Journal of Chinese Universities(高等学校化学学报), 2010, 31(1): 162-166.

[18] He Z, Mansfeld F. Exploring the use of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in microbial fuel cell studies[J]. Energy & Environmental Science, 2009, 2(2): 215-219.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.