Marine microbial fuel cell: Use of stainless steel electrodes as anode and cathode materials

Abstract

Numerous biocorrosion studies have stated that biofilms formed in aerobic seawater induce an efficient catalysis of the oxygen reduction on stainless steels. This property was implemented here for the first time in a marine microbial fuel cell (MFC). A prototype was designed with a stainless steel anode embedded in marine sediments coupled to a stainless steel cathode in the overlying seawater. Recording current/potential curves during the progress of the experiment confirmed that the cathode progressively acquired effective catalytic properties. The maximal power density produced of 4 mW m −2 was lower than those reported previously with marine MFC using graphite electrodes. Decoupling anode and cathode showed that the cathode suffered practical problems related to implementation in the sea, which may found easy technical solutions. A laboratory fuel cell based on the same principle demonstrated that the biofilm-covered stainless steel cathode was able to supply current density up to 140 mA m −2 at +0.05 V versus Ag/AgCl. The power density of 23 mW m −2 was in this case limited by the anode. These first tests presented the biofilm-covered stainless steel cathodes as very promising candidates to be implemented in marine MFC. The suitability of stainless steel as anode has to be further investigated.

Engineering materials and biology to boost performance of microbial fuel cells: a critical review

“…The anode material and its structure can directly affect bacteria attachment, electron transfer, and substrate oxidation. Various materials, including non-corrosive stainless steel, 43 41,48 and graphite fiber brushes 13 have been used as anodes, due to their stability in a microbial inoculum mixture, high conductivity, and high specific surface area. Notably, the graphite brushes already mentioned above and used in a cubic air-cathode MFC yielded a maximum PD of 2400 mW m À2 (with an internal resistance R int ¼ 8 U), which is considerably larger than the 1640 mW m À2 obtained with a plain carbon cloth (R int ¼ 31 U).…”

“…84 Seawater biofilms growing on a stainless-steel cathode were found to be able to catalyse the oxygen reduction, using the electrons delivered by the cathode. 85 Dumas et al 43 checked the effectiveness of a stainless steel cathode covered with a seawater biofilm formed during MFC operations, revealing its promising aptness for sediment MFCs.…”

Diversidad bacteriana asociada a biopelículas anódicas en celdas de combustible microbianas alimentadas con aguas residuales.

“…Las MFC tienen la capacidad de operar utilizando diferentes fuentes naturales, tales como lagos (Zhao et al, 2012), sedimentos marinos (Dumas et al, 2007;Erable et al, 2013), efluentes provenientes de aguas residuales domésticas (Liu et al, 2004;Logan y Rabaey, 2012) o industriales, (Velasquez-Orta et al, 2011), lo que las convierte en dispositivos versátiles con gran capacidad para operar en diferente ambientes, presentando ventajas funcionales y operacionales sobre otras tecnologías: permite la conversión directa de un sustrato energético en electricidad, logrando la remoción de materia orgánica y de partículas contaminantes en fuentes de agua, puede operar eficientemente en condiciones ambientales, incluso a bajas temperaturas, no produce emisiones de gases contaminantes, ya que la única emisión es CO 2 que retorna a la atmósfera, tiene el potencial de ser utilizado en lugares carentes de infraestructura eléctrica y no representa peligro en su operación (Rabaey y Verstraete, 2005).…”

Single chamber microbial fuel cell with Ni-Co cathode

“…But, in real conditions the choice of catalyst is mainly carried out by experimental methods. For this reason experimental research of search a new catalysts for MFCs are still conducted [15,16,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24].…”

“…On anode the function of catalyst take over the microbes. In MFC's carbon is most often used as the electrode, but it is possible to use metal catalysts [16]. Theoretical the current density (obtained with using specific catalyst) can be calculated using the Butler-Volmer exponential function [17].…”