不锈钢网阴极微生物燃料电池的产电性能研究

Electricity Generation of Microbial Fuel Cell Using Stainless Steel Mesh as Cathode

构建了一个以曝气池污泥为阳极接种微生物、碳毡为阳极、无任何修饰的不锈钢网为阴极的双室微生物燃料电池.通过输出电压、功率密度以及电化学阻抗等考察了阴极面积对电池产电性能的影响,并对电池的长期运行稳定性进行评价.研究结果表明,不锈钢网作为微生物燃料电池的阴极性能稳定.当不锈钢网面积为2×2 cm^2时,最大输出电压达到0.411 V,功率密度为0.303 W·m^(-2),内阻841Ω,极化内阻80Ω.增大阴极面积至2×4 cm^2,最大输出电压能达到0.499 V,内阻减小至793Ω.不锈钢网价格便宜,具有长期运行稳定性,适宜做MFCs的阴极.

In the present work, a dual-chamber microbial fuel cell （MFC） was constructed with aeration tank sludge as an inocu- lure, carbon felt as an anode and stainless steel mesh without any modification as a cathode. The influence of the cathode size was investigated in terms of voltage output, power generation and electrochemical impedance. The long-term durability of the stainless steel mesh cathode was also evaluated. Results showed that the stainless steel mesh exhibited satisfactory long-term durability as MFC cathode. When the stainless steel mesh size was 2 × 2 cm2, the maximum output voltage, power density, the internal resistance and the polarization resistance were 0.411 V, 0.303 W. m-2, 841 Ω and 80 Ω, respectively. Increasing the cathode size to 2 × 4 cm2, the maximum output voltage could reach 0.499 V, and the internal resistance reduced to 793 Ω. These studies demonstrated that the stainless steel mesh was suitable for MFC cathode because of its durability and low price.