Improved cathode for high efficient microbial-catalyzed reduction in microbial electrosynthesis cells

Nie, Huarong; Zhang, Tian; Cui, Mengmeng; Lu, H. Y.; Lovley, Derek R.; Russell, Thomas P.

doi:10.1039/c3cp52697f

Cited by 157 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Graphite displays a strong microwave absorption ability and may yield "hot spots". 50,51 Microwave treatment and temperature change in water are related (Table S1). The combination of a hot HOPG substrate and temperature change in water by microwave irradiation may be responsible for the formation of interfacial nanobubbles.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microwave-Induced Interfacial Nanobubbles

2016

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A new method for generating nanobubbles via microwave irradiation was verified and quantified. AFM measurement showed that nanobubbles with diameters ranging from 200 to 600 nm were generated at a water-HOPG surface by applying microwave radiation to aqueous solutions with 9.0−30.0 mg/L dissolved oxygen. Graphite displays strong microwave absorption and transmits high thermal energy to the surface. Because of the high dielectric constant (20°C, 80 F/m) and dielectric loss factor, water molecules have a strong ability to absorb microwave radiation. The thermal and nonthermal effects of microwave radiation made contributions to decreasing the gas solubility, thus facilitating nanobubble nucleation. The yield of nanobubbles increased about 10-fold when the irradiation time increased from 60 to 120 s at 200 W of microwave radiation. The nanobubble density increased from 0.8 to 15 μm −2 by improving the working power from 200 to 600 W. An apparent improvement in nanobubbles yield was obtained between 300 and 400 W, and the resulting temperature was 34−52°C. When the initial dissolved oxygen increased from 11.3 to 30.0 mg/L, the density of nanobubbles increased from 1.2 to 13 μm . The generation of nanobubbles could be well controlled by adjusting the gas concentration, microwave power, or irradiation time. The method may be valuable in preparing surface nanobubbles quickly and conveniently for various applications, such as catalysis, hypoxia/anoxia remediation, and templates for preparing nanoscale materials.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microwave-Induced Interfacial Nanobubbles

2016

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“…For instance, introduction of positive charged functional groups at carbon cloth electrodes significantly improves formation and performance of Sporomusa ovate films used for electrosynthetic production of acetate in a microbial electrolysis cell [96][97] . Carbon nanotube (CNT) modified electrodes prove superior to planar electrodes for mixed consortia biofilm formation and acetate production rates 75 .…”

Section: Surface Chemistry In Microbial Bes Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ins and outs of microorganism–electrode electron transfer reactions

et al. 2017

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Microbial-electrode electron transfer is a mechanism by which microbes make their living coupling to electronic circuits, even across long distances. From a chemistry perspective, it represents a model platform that integrates biological metabolism with artificial electronics, and will facilitate the fundamental understanding of charge transport properties within these distinct chemical systems and particularly at their interfaces. From a broad standpoint, this understanding will also open up new possibilities in a wide range of high impact applications in bioelectrochemical system based technologies, which have shown promise in electricity, biochemical, chemical feedstock production but still require many orders of magnitude improvement to lead to viable technologies. Here we review opportunities to understand microbial-electrode electron transfer to improve electrocatalysis (bioelectricity) and electrosynthesis (biochemical and chemical production). We discuss challenges and the ample interdisciplinary research opportunities and suggest paths to take to improve production of fuels and chemicals at high yield and efficiency and the new applications that may result from increased understanding of the microbial-electrode electron transfer mechanism.Bio-electrochemical system (BES) can be expressed as the bidirectional electron transports between biotic and abiotic components, where the redoxactive microorganisms or bio-macromolecules act as the catalysts that facilitate the exchange process 1 . A glossary of important terms is provided in box 1. A model system of BES that has been widely studies is the Microbial Fuel Cell (MFCs). Similar to the conventional fuel cell, the microorganisms can transport electrons to the anodes of MFC after oxidizing the electron donors, thus generating the electrical flow toward the cathode 2 . Meanwhile, certain microorganisms are also known for their capability to reduce the electron acceptors such as nitrate, perchlorate or metals in the cathodes 3 . Other BESs such as Microbial electrolysis cells (MEC), Microbial electrosynthesis (MES),Microbial solar cells (MSCs), and Plant microbial fuel cells (PMFCs) also share similar electron transport strategy. These direct electron transport processes created a novel and promising possibility to bridge the fundamental researches in microbiology, electrochemistry, environmental engineering, material science and the applications in waste remediation & resource recovery, sustainable energy production, and bio-inspired material development. The basic working principles and the applications of these different BESs have been comprehensively reviewed by many different groups [4][5][6][7] . Bioelectrochemcial systemsEnzymatic electron transport process is one of the earliest BES models which received extensive attention due to the interests in development of amperometric biosensors and enzymatic fuel cell in late 20 th century [8][9][10][11][12] . In this system, the electrons generated from specific enzymatic reactions can be either...

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“…To the best of our knowledge, only Lovley et al (2013) [10,11] have very recently proposed a number of modified electrode materials for the improvement of cathodic processes.…”

Section: Biocathode Electrode Materials For Mesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…MES remains a nascent concept with only few studies that have demonstrated the process in laboratory scale using either pure cultures [8][9][10][11] or mixed microbial consortia [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]73].…”

Section: Microbial Electrosynthesis From Co2 To Organics-a Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Microbial electrosynthesis remains a nascent concept with only few studies that have demonstrated the process in laboratory scale using either pure cultures [8][9][10][11] or mixed microbial consortia [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Use of mixed microbial consortia is attractive as they can be readily generated in the required quantities, are more tolerant to environmental fluctuations [20] and thus far have showed higher MES production rates than pure cultures over long term operation [14][15][16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Microbial electrosynthesis from carbon dioxide: performance enhancement and elucidation of mechanisms

Jourdin¹

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Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) of organics from carbon dioxide has been recently put forward as an attractive technology for the renewable production of valuable multi-carbon reduced end-products and as a promising CO 2 transformation strategy. MES is a biocathode-driven process that relies on the conversion of electrical energy into high energy-density chemicals. However, MES remains a nascent concept and there is still limited knowledge on many aspects.It is still unclear whether autotrophic microbial biocathode biofilms are able to selfregenerate under purely cathodic conditions without any external electron or organic carbon sources. Here we report on the successful development and long-term operation of an autotrophic biocathode whereby an electroactive biofilm was able to grow and sustain itself with CO 2 and the cathode as sole carbon and electron source, respectively, with H 2 as sole product. From a small inoculum of 15 mg COD (in 250 mL), the bioelectrochemical system operating at -0.5 V vs. SHE enabled an estimated biofilm growth of 300 mg as COD over a period of 276 days.A critical aspect is that reported performances of bioelectrosynthesis of organics are still insufficient for scaling MES to practical applications. Selective microbial consortia and biocathode material development are of paramount importance towards performance enhancement. A novel biocompatible, highly conductive three-dimensional cathode was manufactured by direct growth of flexible multiwalled carbon nanotubes on reticulated vitreous carbon (NanoWeb-RVC) by chemical vapour deposition (CVD). The results demonstrated that: (i) the high surface area to volume ratio of the macroporous RVC maximizes the available biofilm area while ensuring effective mass transfer to and from the biofilm, and (ii) the nanostructure enhances the bacteria-electrode interaction, biofilm development, microbial extracellular electron transfer, and acetate bioproduction rate.However, for scale-up beyond certain sizes, there are some limitations with the CVD technique. We harnessed the throwing power of electrophoretic deposition technique (EPD), suitable for industrial scale production, to form multi-walled CNT coatings onto RVC to generate a new hierarchical porous structure, hereafter called EPD-3D. A very effective mixed microbial consortium was successfully enriched and transferred to EPD-3D reactors and demonstrated drastic performance enhancement reaching biocathode current density of -102 ± 1 A m -2 and acetate production rate of 685 ± 30 g m -2 day -1 .ii An in-depth understanding on how electrons flow from the cathode to the terminal electron acceptor is still missing but crucial (e.g. for improved reactor design). High rates of acetate production by microbial electrosynthesis was shown to occur via biologically-induced hydrogen, likely through the biological synthesis of metal copper particles, with 99 ± 1% electron recovery into acetate. The acetate-producing bacteria showed the remarkable ability to consume a high H 2 flux (ca. 1.15 m ...

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Improved cathode for high efficient microbial-catalyzed reduction in microbial electrosynthesis cells

Cited by 157 publications

References 41 publications

Microwave-Induced Interfacial Nanobubbles

Microwave-Induced Interfacial Nanobubbles

The ins and outs of microorganism–electrode electron transfer reactions

Microbial electrosynthesis from carbon dioxide: performance enhancement and elucidation of mechanisms

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