Microbial Fuel Cells Using <i>Purple Photosynthetic Bacteria</i> with Dry-Surface Biofilms

Abstract

We fabricated a microbial fuel cell (MFC) which was composed of three parts: a piece of towel paper for membrane, an anode electrode with photosynthetic bacteria biofilm and a cathode electrode coated potassium ferricyanide. The MFC could generate electricity with 20 µl water adding to the dry biofilm anode for activation. We measured repeatedly electricity generation every week using the MFC. This paper studies three points: (1) the dry-surface biofilms of Purple photosynthetic bacteria can generate electricity when activated by water; (2) the bacteria can survive in the condition of dry-surface biofilms for several weeks; (3) carbon nanotube (CNT) improves the performance of the electrodes. As a result, the MFC generated the maximum power density and current density of 2.90 µW/cm 2 and 24.1 µA/cm 2 , respectively.

Phototrophic microbial fuel cells: a greener approach to sustainable power generation and wastewater treatment

“…A portable paper-based MFC was designed using purple photosynthetic bacteria to form a dry surface biofilm. 141 A very thick biofilm did not yield effective performance because oxygen diffusion was hindered. The bacterial load varied in various electrodes, and the size of the bacteria cells was 2–3 μm.…”