Optimizing the electrode surface area of sediment microbial fuel cells

Abstract

Sediment microbial fuel cells (SMFCs) is a promising technology for bioremediation, environmental monitoring and remote power supply in various water environments. Optimizing the anode/cathode surface area ratio (SAR a/c ) is important to enhance the power and decrease the cost of SMFCs. However, in fact, little information has been reported to optimize the SAR a/c of SMFCs in individual or stacked mode. This study comparatively analyzed the effects of electrode surface areas on the performance of single SMFCs and serial SMFC-stacks under separated-and connected-hydraulic conditions. The results suggested an optimal SAR a/c of 1 to 1.33 for both single and serial stacked SMFCs. Voltage reversal occurred in serial SMFC stacks with unoptimal SAR a/c but not in optimized stacks. The more the SAR a/c deviated from the optimal SAR a/c , the more easily the voltage reversal occurred (i.e. lower reversal current). Compared to a separated-hydraulic environment, a connected-hydraulic environment showed no effect on the power generation of anode-limiting SMFC stacks but decreased the power generation and reversal current of cathode-limiting SMFCs, probably due to larger parasitic current. The results are important for the scale-up and application of SMFCs.

The influence of organic pollutant load and external resistance on the performance of a solid phase microbial fuel cell fed orange peel wastes

“…Internal resistance the growth of bacteria, which is responsible for the generation of bioelectricity and a higher substrate availability. 23 The experimental data indicate that the addition of OPW can significantly improve the SPMFCs' performance (Figure 4). A maximum power density of about 0.24 W m À2 was obtained with 50 g of OPW at an external resistance of 1000 Ω.…”

Enhanced Power Extraction with Sediment Microbial Fuel Cells by Anode Alternation

“…This catalyst layer is based on platinum (0.5 mg cm −2 of Pt/C obtained by Sigma Aldrich) and 5 wt% of Nafion (Sigma Aldrich, St. Louis, Missouri, USA) [11]. One cathode, with an area of 6 × 3 cm 2 , was used for each SMFC, ensuring an optimal 1 to 1 ratio between the area of the cathode and the maximum anodic areas, corresponding to the sum of the two anodes' areas [54]. Cathodes were placed near the water's surface for efficient aeration, leading thus to provide an optimized direct oxygen reduction reaction (ORR).…”

Microbial fuel cell performance for aromatic hydrocarbon bioremediation and common effluent treatment plant wastewater treatment with bioelectricity generation through series-parallel connection

“…Optimization of anode surface area and catholyte volume are other two important parameters for electron and proton transport in MFC leading to the generation of electricity (Sangeetha and Muthukumar 2011; Yang et al . 2018; Ling et al . 2019).…”

“…Optimization of anode surface area and catholyte volume are other two important parameters for electron and proton transport in MFC leading to the generation of electricity (Sangeetha and Muthukumar 2011;Yang et al 2018;Ling et al 2019). Among the properties of a good electrode, large surface area with biocompatibility, good electrical conductivity and chemical stability are desirable where graphite proves to be the excellent material as electrode (Zhao et al 2015).…”