The development of a sustainable catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is still a major bottleneck for the scale-up and commercialization of Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs). In this work, we have studied the utilization of iron-oxidizing bacteria (IOB) enriched from natural environment and Fe 2+ in MFCs equipped with gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs) as an alternative to traditional Pt-based catalysts. In half-cells systems, the oxidation of Fe 2+ into Fe 3+ by IOB and its regeneration at the cathode produced constant current densities close to 2 A m −2 for more than 45 days. In MFCs operated in batch mode, significant pH changes in both compartment led to the instability of the system. However, when operated in continuous mode, pH remained stable in both compartments and MFCs produced maximum power densities of 1.1 W m −2 were then reached, compared to 0.5 W m −2 for MFCs equipped with Pt catalyst. Diffusion of oxygen through the GDEs improved mass transport and the performance of the MFCs, and avoided the utilization of costly aeration system. This IOB GDE system also provides a reproducible and fast start-up for biocathode for MFCs.

In this work, the effect of the external load on the current and power generation, as well as on the pollutant removal by microbial fuel cells (MFCs), has been studied by step-wise modifying the external load. The load changes included a direct scan, in which the external resistance was increased from 120 Ω to 3300 Ω, and a subsequent reverse scan, in which the external resistance was decreased back to 120 Ω. The reduction in the current, experienced when increasing the external resistance, was maintained even in the reverse scan when the external resistance was step-wise decreased. Regarding the power exerted, when the external resistance was increased below the value of the internal resistance, an enhancement in the power exerted was observed. However, when operating near the value of the internal resistance, a stable power exerted of about 1.6 µW was reached. These current and power responses can be explained by the change in population distribution, which shifts to a more fermentative than electrogenic culture, as was confirmed by the population analyses. Regarding the pollutant removal, the effluent chemical oxygen demand (COD) decreased when the external resistance increased up to the internal resistance value. However, the effluent COD increased when the external resistance was higher than the internal resistance. This behavior was maintained in the reverse scan, which confirmed the modification in the microbial population of the MFC.

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