Cathode activity plays an important role in the improvement of the microbial fuel cells on ocean floor （BMFCs）. A comparison study between Rayon-based （CF-R） and PAN-based carbon fiber （CF-P） cathodes is conduct...Cathode activity plays an important role in the improvement of the microbial fuel cells on ocean floor （BMFCs）. A comparison study between Rayon-based （CF-R） and PAN-based carbon fiber （CF-P） cathodes is conducted in the paper. The two carbon fibers were heat treated to improve cell performance （CF-R-H ＆ CF-P-H）, and were used to build a new BMFCs structure with a foamy carbon anode. The maximum power density was 112.4mWm-2 for CF-R-H, followed by 66.6mWm-2 for CF-R, 49.7 mWm-2 for CF-P-H and 21.6mWm-2 for CF-P respectively. The higher specific area and deep groove make CF-R have a better power output than with CF-P. Meanwhile, heat treatment of carbon fiber can improve cell power, nearly two-fold higher than heat treatment of plain fiber. This improvement may be due to the quinones group formation to accelerate the reduction of oxygen and electron transfer on the fiber surface in the three phase boundary after heat treatment. Compared to PAN-based carbon fiber, Rayon-based carbon fiber would be preferentially selected as cathode in novel BMFCs design due to its high surface area, low cost and higher power. The comparison research is significant for cathode material selection and cell design.展开更多
The electrochemical performances of cathode play a key role in the marine sediment microbial fuel cells(MSMFCs)as a long lasting power source to drive instruments,especially when the dissolved oxygen concentration is ...The electrochemical performances of cathode play a key role in the marine sediment microbial fuel cells(MSMFCs)as a long lasting power source to drive instruments,especially when the dissolved oxygen concentration is very low in seawater.A CTS-Fe^(3+)modified cathode is prepared here by grafting chitosan(CTS)on a carbon fiber surface and then chelating Fe^(3+)through the coordination process.The electrochemical performance in seawater and the output power of the assembled MSMFCs are both studied.The results show that the exchange current densities of CTS and the CTS-Fe^(3+)group are 5.5 and 6.2 times higher than that of the blank group,respectively.The potential of the CTS-Fe^(3+)modified cathode increases by 138 mV.The output power of the fuel cell(613.0 mW m^(-2))assembled with CTS-Fe^(3+)is 54 times larger than that of the blank group(11.4 mW m^(-2))and the current output corresponding with the maximum power output also increases by 56 times.Due to the valence conversion between Fe^(3+)and Fe^(2+)on the modified cathode,the kinetic activity of the dissolved oxygen reduction is accelerated and the depolarization capability of the cathode is enhanced,resulting higher cell power.On the basis of this study,the new cathode materials will be encouraged to design with the complex of iron ion in natural seawater as the catalysis for oxygen reduction to improve the cell power in deep sea.展开更多
The focus of microbial fuel cell research in recent years has been on the development of materials,microbes,and transfer of charges in the system,resulting in a substantial improvement in current density and improved ...The focus of microbial fuel cell research in recent years has been on the development of materials,microbes,and transfer of charges in the system,resulting in a substantial improvement in current density and improved power generation.The cathode is generally recognized as the limiting factor due to its high-distance proton transfer,slow oxygen reduction reaction(ORR),and expensive materials.The heterogeneous reaction determines power gen-eration in MFC.This comprehensive review describes-recent advancements in the development of cathode mate-rials and catalysts associated with ORR.The recent studies indicated the utilization of different metal oxides,the ferrite-based catalyst to overcome this bottleneck.These studies conclude that some cathode materials,in parti-cular,graphene-based conductive polymer composites with non-precious metal catalysts provide substantial ben-efits for sustainable development in the field of MFCs.Furthermore,it also highlights the potentiality to replace the conventional platinum air cathode for the large-scale production of the next generation of MFCs.It was evi-dent from the experiments that cathode catalyst needs to be blended with conductive carbon materials to make cathode conductive and efficient for ORR.This review discusses various antifouling strategies for cathode biofoul-ing and its effect on the MFC performance.Moreover,it also depicts cost estimations of various catalysts essential for further scale-up of MFC technology.展开更多
This paper compared the degradation efficiency of sludge organic matters and electric-production by two typical microbial fuel cells——dual-chamber microbial fuel cell(DMFC)and single chamber air cathode microbial fu...This paper compared the degradation efficiency of sludge organic matters and electric-production by two typical microbial fuel cells——dual-chamber microbial fuel cell(DMFC)and single chamber air cathode microbial fuel cell(SAMFC),and the variations of sludge protein,polysaccharide and ammonia nitrogen within the systems were also investigated.The results showed that the concentration of sludge soluble chemical oxygen demand,protein and carbohydrate of DMFC are higher than these of SAMFC during the systems operation,while DMFC can achieve a better ammonia nitrogen removal than SAMFC.Under the same operation condition,the stable voltage output of DMFC and SAMFC is 0.61 V and 0.37 V;the maximum power density of DMFC and SAMFC is 2.79 W/m3and 1.25 W/m3;TCOD removal efficiency of DMFC and SAMFC is 34.14%and 28.63%for 12 d,respectively.Meanwhile,DMFC has a higher coulomb efficiency than SAMFC,but both are less than5%.The results showed that DMFC present a better performance on sludge degradation and electric-production.展开更多
Microbial fuel cells(MFCs),as a sustainable and promising technology to solve both environmental pollution and energy shortage,have captured tremendous attention.The conversion efficiency of chemical energy contained ...Microbial fuel cells(MFCs),as a sustainable and promising technology to solve both environmental pollution and energy shortage,have captured tremendous attention.The conversion efficiency of chemical energy contained in organic waste or wastewater to electricity via microbial metabolism strongly depends on the performance of each functional unit,including the anode,cathode and separator/membrane used in MFCs.Therefore,significant attention has been paid toward developing advanced functional materials to enhance the performance of each unit or provide new featured functions.This review paper provides a comprehensive review on recent achievements and advances in the modification and development of functional materials for MFC systems,including 1)the development of functional anode materials for enhanced microbial compatibilities as well as electron transfer capabilities,2)the development of cost-effective separators/membranes such as ion exchange membrane,porous membrane,polymer electrolyte membrane and composite membrane,and 3)the development of functional cathode catalysts to decrease the over-potential and enhance the electrocatalytic efficiency for oxygen reduction reaction in order to substitute the common costly Pt catalyst.The challenges and outlooks of functional materials for MFC applications are also discussed.展开更多
Microbial fuel cells(MFCs)have a simple structure and excellent pollutant treatment and power generation performance.However,the slow kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)at the MFC cathode limit power genera...Microbial fuel cells(MFCs)have a simple structure and excellent pollutant treatment and power generation performance.However,the slow kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)at the MFC cathode limit power generation.The electrochemical performance of MFCs can be improved through electrocatalysis.Thus far,metal-based catalysts have shown astonishing results in the field of electrocatalysis,enabling MFC devices to demonstrate power generation capabilities comparable to those of Pt,thus showing enormous potential.This article reviews the research progress of meta-based MFC cathode ORR catalysts,including the ORR reaction mechanism of MFC,different types of catalysts,and preparation strategies.The catalytic effects of different catalysts in MFC are compared and summarized.Before discussing the practical application and expanded manufacturing of catalysts,we summarize the key challenges that must be addressed when using metal-based catalysts in MFC,with the aim of providing a scientific direction for the future development of advanced materials.展开更多
To investigate the effect of air-exposed biocathode（AEB） on the performance of singlechamber microbial fuel cell（SCMFC）, wastewater quality, bioelectrochemical characteristics and the electrode biofilms were resea...To investigate the effect of air-exposed biocathode（AEB） on the performance of singlechamber microbial fuel cell（SCMFC）, wastewater quality, bioelectrochemical characteristics and the electrode biofilms were researched. It was demonstrated that exposing the biocathode to air was beneficial to nitrogen removal and current generation. In Test 1 of 95%AEB, removal rates of ammonia, total nitrogen（TN） and chemical oxygen demand（COD）reached 99.34% ± 0.11%, 99.34% ± 0.10% and 90.79% ± 0.12%, respectively. The nitrogen removal loading rates were 36.38 g N/m3/day. Meanwhile, current density and power density obtained at 0.7 A/m3 and 104 m W/m3 respectively. Further experiments on opencircuit（Test 2） and carbon source（Test 3） indicated that this high performance could be attributed to simultaneous biological nitrification/denitrification and aerobic denitrification, as well as bioelectrochemical denitrification. Results of community analysis demonstrated that both microbial community structures on the surface of the cathode and in the liquid of the chamber were different. The percentage of Thauera, identified as denitrifying bacteria, maintained at a high level of over 50% in water, but decreased gradually in the AEB. Moreover, the genus Nitrosomonas, Alishewanella, Arcobacter and Rheinheimera were significantly enriched in the AEB, which might contribute to both enhancement of nitrogen removal and electricity generation.展开更多
The naturally lackadaisical kinetics of oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)in the cathode is one of the important factors that restrict the development of air-cathode microbial fuel cells(MFCs).In this work,the iron-nitrog...The naturally lackadaisical kinetics of oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)in the cathode is one of the important factors that restrict the development of air-cathode microbial fuel cells(MFCs).In this work,the iron-nitrogen-carbon hierarchically nanostructured materials had been successfully fabricated by pyrolyzing glucose,iron chloride,and dicyandiamide with the aim of solving the issue.The obtained catalyst with an ultrathin nanostructure demonstrated an idiosyncratic electrocatalytic activity caused by the high content introduction of nitrogen and iron atoms,large surface area,which will offer sufficient active sites for improving the charge/mass transfer and reducing the diffusion resistance.Furthermore,with the increase of N dopant in the catalyst,better ORR catalytic activity could be achieved.Illustrating the N doping was beneficial to the ORR process.The high content of N,BET surface area caused by the N increasing could be responsible for the superior performance according to results of X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS),Raman and Brunner-Emmet-Teller(BET)analysis.The ORR on the Fe-N3/C material follows 4e−pathway,and MFCs equipped with Fe-N3/C catalyst achieved a maximum power density(MPD)of 912 mW/m2,which was 1.1 times of the MPD generated by the commercial Pt/C(830 mW/m2).This research not only provided a feasible way for the fabrication of Pt-free catalyst towards oxygen reduction but also proposed potential cathode catalysts for the development of MFCs.展开更多
An Ag2O/Ag electrode was prepared through the electrochemical oxidation of sterling silver. This electrode was used as a cathodic electron acceptor in a microbial fuel cell （MFC）. The Ag2O/Ag electrode was character...An Ag2O/Ag electrode was prepared through the electrochemical oxidation of sterling silver. This electrode was used as a cathodic electron acceptor in a microbial fuel cell （MFC）. The Ag2O/Ag electrode was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction and linear sweep voltammetry. The maximum voltage output of the MFC with the AgaO/Ag cathode was maintained at between 0.47 and 0.5 V in 100 cycles, indicating the good regenerative capacity of the Ag2O/Ag electrode. The overpotential loss for silver oxide was 0.021-0.006 V, and the maximum power output, open circuit potential and short circuit current of the MFC were 1.796 W m^-3, 0.559 V and 9.3375 A m^-3, respectively. The energy required for electrochemical reoxidation ranged from 40% to 55% of the energy produced by the MFC. Results indicated that the AgeO/Ag electrode could be used as a cathodic electron acceptor in MFCs with excellent stability.展开更多
Developing high activity,low-cost and long durability catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction is of great significance for the practical application of microbial fuel cells.The ftill exposure of active sites in cataly...Developing high activity,low-cost and long durability catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction is of great significance for the practical application of microbial fuel cells.The ftill exposure of active sites in catalysts can enhance catalytic activity dramatically.Here,novel Fe-N-doped graphene is successftilly synthesized via a one-step in situ ball milling method.Pristine graphite,ball milling graphene,N-doped graphene and Fe-N-doped graphene are applied in air cathodes,and enhanced performance is observed in microbial fuel cells with graphene-based catalysts.Particularly,Fe-Ndoped graphene achieves the highest oxygen reduction reaction activity,with a maximum power density of 1380±20 mW/m^2 in microbial fUel cells and a current density of 23.8 A/m^2 at-0.16 V in electrochemical tests,which are comparable to commercial Pt and 390%and 640%of those of pristine graphite.An investigation of the material characteristics reveals that the superior performance of Fe-Ndoped graphene results from the full exposure of Fe2O3 nanoparticles,pyrrolic N,pyridinic N and excellent Fe-N-G active sites on the graphene matrix.This work not only suggests the strategy of maximally exposing active sites to optimize the potential of catalysts but also provides promising catalysts for the use of microbial fuel cells in sustainable energy generation.展开更多
The effects of inoculum species, substrate concentration, temperature, and cathodic electron acceptors on electricity production of microbial fuel cells （MFCs） were investigated in terms of start-up time and power o...The effects of inoculum species, substrate concentration, temperature, and cathodic electron acceptors on electricity production of microbial fuel cells （MFCs） were investigated in terms of start-up time and power output. When inoculated with aeration tank sludge, this MFC outperformed the cell that was inoculated with anaerobic sludge in terms of start-up time and power output. After running for a certain time period, the dominant populations of the two MFCs varied significantly. Within the tested range of substrate concentration （200-1800 mg L-l）, the voltage output increased and the time span of the electricity generation lengthened with increasing substrate concentration. As the temperature declined from 35 to 10 ℃, the maximum power density reduced from 2.229 to 1.620 W m-3, and anodic polarization resistance correspondingly dropped from 118 to 98 Ω. The voltage output of MFC-Cu2＋ was 0.447 V, which is slightly lower than that achieved with MFC-[Fe（CN）6]3- （0.492 V）, thereby indicating that MFCs could be used to treat wastewater con- taining Cu2＋ pollutant in the cathode chamber with removal of organics in anode chamber and simultaneous electricity generation.展开更多
基金support by the Key Project of Nature Science Fund of Shandong Province, China (ZR2011B Z008)the Special Fund of Marine Renewable Energy from China’s State Oceanic Administration (GHME 2011GD04)
文摘Cathode activity plays an important role in the improvement of the microbial fuel cells on ocean floor （BMFCs）. A comparison study between Rayon-based （CF-R） and PAN-based carbon fiber （CF-P） cathodes is conducted in the paper. The two carbon fibers were heat treated to improve cell performance （CF-R-H ＆ CF-P-H）, and were used to build a new BMFCs structure with a foamy carbon anode. The maximum power density was 112.4mWm-2 for CF-R-H, followed by 66.6mWm-2 for CF-R, 49.7 mWm-2 for CF-P-H and 21.6mWm-2 for CF-P respectively. The higher specific area and deep groove make CF-R have a better power output than with CF-P. Meanwhile, heat treatment of carbon fiber can improve cell power, nearly two-fold higher than heat treatment of plain fiber. This improvement may be due to the quinones group formation to accelerate the reduction of oxygen and electron transfer on the fiber surface in the three phase boundary after heat treatment. Compared to PAN-based carbon fiber, Rayon-based carbon fiber would be preferentially selected as cathode in novel BMFCs design due to its high surface area, low cost and higher power. The comparison research is significant for cathode material selection and cell design.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.22075262)。
文摘The electrochemical performances of cathode play a key role in the marine sediment microbial fuel cells(MSMFCs)as a long lasting power source to drive instruments,especially when the dissolved oxygen concentration is very low in seawater.A CTS-Fe^(3+)modified cathode is prepared here by grafting chitosan(CTS)on a carbon fiber surface and then chelating Fe^(3+)through the coordination process.The electrochemical performance in seawater and the output power of the assembled MSMFCs are both studied.The results show that the exchange current densities of CTS and the CTS-Fe^(3+)group are 5.5 and 6.2 times higher than that of the blank group,respectively.The potential of the CTS-Fe^(3+)modified cathode increases by 138 mV.The output power of the fuel cell(613.0 mW m^(-2))assembled with CTS-Fe^(3+)is 54 times larger than that of the blank group(11.4 mW m^(-2))and the current output corresponding with the maximum power output also increases by 56 times.Due to the valence conversion between Fe^(3+)and Fe^(2+)on the modified cathode,the kinetic activity of the dissolved oxygen reduction is accelerated and the depolarization capability of the cathode is enhanced,resulting higher cell power.On the basis of this study,the new cathode materials will be encouraged to design with the complex of iron ion in natural seawater as the catalysis for oxygen reduction to improve the cell power in deep sea.
文摘The focus of microbial fuel cell research in recent years has been on the development of materials,microbes,and transfer of charges in the system,resulting in a substantial improvement in current density and improved power generation.The cathode is generally recognized as the limiting factor due to its high-distance proton transfer,slow oxygen reduction reaction(ORR),and expensive materials.The heterogeneous reaction determines power gen-eration in MFC.This comprehensive review describes-recent advancements in the development of cathode mate-rials and catalysts associated with ORR.The recent studies indicated the utilization of different metal oxides,the ferrite-based catalyst to overcome this bottleneck.These studies conclude that some cathode materials,in parti-cular,graphene-based conductive polymer composites with non-precious metal catalysts provide substantial ben-efits for sustainable development in the field of MFCs.Furthermore,it also highlights the potentiality to replace the conventional platinum air cathode for the large-scale production of the next generation of MFCs.It was evi-dent from the experiments that cathode catalyst needs to be blended with conductive carbon materials to make cathode conductive and efficient for ORR.This review discusses various antifouling strategies for cathode biofoul-ing and its effect on the MFC performance.Moreover,it also depicts cost estimations of various catalysts essential for further scale-up of MFC technology.
基金Sponsored by the National Natural Science Key Foundation of China(Grant No.51206036)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(Grant No.HIT.NSRIF.201192)+1 种基金State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and EnvironmentHarbin Institute of Technology(Grant No.2013DX04)
文摘This paper compared the degradation efficiency of sludge organic matters and electric-production by two typical microbial fuel cells——dual-chamber microbial fuel cell(DMFC)and single chamber air cathode microbial fuel cell(SAMFC),and the variations of sludge protein,polysaccharide and ammonia nitrogen within the systems were also investigated.The results showed that the concentration of sludge soluble chemical oxygen demand,protein and carbohydrate of DMFC are higher than these of SAMFC during the systems operation,while DMFC can achieve a better ammonia nitrogen removal than SAMFC.Under the same operation condition,the stable voltage output of DMFC and SAMFC is 0.61 V and 0.37 V;the maximum power density of DMFC and SAMFC is 2.79 W/m3and 1.25 W/m3;TCOD removal efficiency of DMFC and SAMFC is 34.14%and 28.63%for 12 d,respectively.Meanwhile,DMFC has a higher coulomb efficiency than SAMFC,but both are less than5%.The results showed that DMFC present a better performance on sludge degradation and electric-production.
基金supported jointly by Natural Science Foundation of China(51878309)National Key Research and Development Program of China(2018YFC1900105).
文摘Microbial fuel cells(MFCs),as a sustainable and promising technology to solve both environmental pollution and energy shortage,have captured tremendous attention.The conversion efficiency of chemical energy contained in organic waste or wastewater to electricity via microbial metabolism strongly depends on the performance of each functional unit,including the anode,cathode and separator/membrane used in MFCs.Therefore,significant attention has been paid toward developing advanced functional materials to enhance the performance of each unit or provide new featured functions.This review paper provides a comprehensive review on recent achievements and advances in the modification and development of functional materials for MFC systems,including 1)the development of functional anode materials for enhanced microbial compatibilities as well as electron transfer capabilities,2)the development of cost-effective separators/membranes such as ion exchange membrane,porous membrane,polymer electrolyte membrane and composite membrane,and 3)the development of functional cathode catalysts to decrease the over-potential and enhance the electrocatalytic efficiency for oxygen reduction reaction in order to substitute the common costly Pt catalyst.The challenges and outlooks of functional materials for MFC applications are also discussed.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.52170019 and 51973015)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(No.06500100)the“Ten thousand plan”-National High-level Personnel of Special Support Program.National Environmental and Energy Science and Technology International Cooperation Base.
文摘Microbial fuel cells(MFCs)have a simple structure and excellent pollutant treatment and power generation performance.However,the slow kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)at the MFC cathode limit power generation.The electrochemical performance of MFCs can be improved through electrocatalysis.Thus far,metal-based catalysts have shown astonishing results in the field of electrocatalysis,enabling MFC devices to demonstrate power generation capabilities comparable to those of Pt,thus showing enormous potential.This article reviews the research progress of meta-based MFC cathode ORR catalysts,including the ORR reaction mechanism of MFC,different types of catalysts,and preparation strategies.The catalytic effects of different catalysts in MFC are compared and summarized.Before discussing the practical application and expanded manufacturing of catalysts,we summarize the key challenges that must be addressed when using metal-based catalysts in MFC,with the aim of providing a scientific direction for the future development of advanced materials.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 31270166 and 51408580)the Applied Basic Research Program of Sichuan Province (No. 2016JY0078)+1 种基金the Key Laboratory of Environmental and Applied Microbiology Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. KLCAS-2016-05)the Chengdu Science and Technology Project (No. 2015-HM0100550-SF)
文摘To investigate the effect of air-exposed biocathode（AEB） on the performance of singlechamber microbial fuel cell（SCMFC）, wastewater quality, bioelectrochemical characteristics and the electrode biofilms were researched. It was demonstrated that exposing the biocathode to air was beneficial to nitrogen removal and current generation. In Test 1 of 95%AEB, removal rates of ammonia, total nitrogen（TN） and chemical oxygen demand（COD）reached 99.34% ± 0.11%, 99.34% ± 0.10% and 90.79% ± 0.12%, respectively. The nitrogen removal loading rates were 36.38 g N/m3/day. Meanwhile, current density and power density obtained at 0.7 A/m3 and 104 m W/m3 respectively. Further experiments on opencircuit（Test 2） and carbon source（Test 3） indicated that this high performance could be attributed to simultaneous biological nitrification/denitrification and aerobic denitrification, as well as bioelectrochemical denitrification. Results of community analysis demonstrated that both microbial community structures on the surface of the cathode and in the liquid of the chamber were different. The percentage of Thauera, identified as denitrifying bacteria, maintained at a high level of over 50% in water, but decreased gradually in the AEB. Moreover, the genus Nitrosomonas, Alishewanella, Arcobacter and Rheinheimera were significantly enriched in the AEB, which might contribute to both enhancement of nitrogen removal and electricity generation.
基金This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.51806224)Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province(Grant No.2017A030310280)+2 种基金the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.XDA21050400)the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(Grant No.2018M631899)The authors acknowledge the care and spiritual support from Gaixiu Yang over the past two years.
文摘The naturally lackadaisical kinetics of oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)in the cathode is one of the important factors that restrict the development of air-cathode microbial fuel cells(MFCs).In this work,the iron-nitrogen-carbon hierarchically nanostructured materials had been successfully fabricated by pyrolyzing glucose,iron chloride,and dicyandiamide with the aim of solving the issue.The obtained catalyst with an ultrathin nanostructure demonstrated an idiosyncratic electrocatalytic activity caused by the high content introduction of nitrogen and iron atoms,large surface area,which will offer sufficient active sites for improving the charge/mass transfer and reducing the diffusion resistance.Furthermore,with the increase of N dopant in the catalyst,better ORR catalytic activity could be achieved.Illustrating the N doping was beneficial to the ORR process.The high content of N,BET surface area caused by the N increasing could be responsible for the superior performance according to results of X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS),Raman and Brunner-Emmet-Teller(BET)analysis.The ORR on the Fe-N3/C material follows 4e−pathway,and MFCs equipped with Fe-N3/C catalyst achieved a maximum power density(MPD)of 912 mW/m2,which was 1.1 times of the MPD generated by the commercial Pt/C(830 mW/m2).This research not only provided a feasible way for the fabrication of Pt-free catalyst towards oxygen reduction but also proposed potential cathode catalysts for the development of MFCs.
基金jointly funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Shenhua Group Corp.(Grant No.U1261103)the Natural Science Foundation of Shanxi Province of China (Grant No.201601D011023)
文摘An Ag2O/Ag electrode was prepared through the electrochemical oxidation of sterling silver. This electrode was used as a cathodic electron acceptor in a microbial fuel cell （MFC）. The Ag2O/Ag electrode was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction and linear sweep voltammetry. The maximum voltage output of the MFC with the AgaO/Ag cathode was maintained at between 0.47 and 0.5 V in 100 cycles, indicating the good regenerative capacity of the Ag2O/Ag electrode. The overpotential loss for silver oxide was 0.021-0.006 V, and the maximum power output, open circuit potential and short circuit current of the MFC were 1.796 W m^-3, 0.559 V and 9.3375 A m^-3, respectively. The energy required for electrochemical reoxidation ranged from 40% to 55% of the energy produced by the MFC. Results indicated that the AgeO/Ag electrode could be used as a cathodic electron acceptor in MFCs with excellent stability.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.51778326)the special fund of Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific Research Program。
文摘Developing high activity,low-cost and long durability catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction is of great significance for the practical application of microbial fuel cells.The ftill exposure of active sites in catalysts can enhance catalytic activity dramatically.Here,novel Fe-N-doped graphene is successftilly synthesized via a one-step in situ ball milling method.Pristine graphite,ball milling graphene,N-doped graphene and Fe-N-doped graphene are applied in air cathodes,and enhanced performance is observed in microbial fuel cells with graphene-based catalysts.Particularly,Fe-Ndoped graphene achieves the highest oxygen reduction reaction activity,with a maximum power density of 1380±20 mW/m^2 in microbial fUel cells and a current density of 23.8 A/m^2 at-0.16 V in electrochemical tests,which are comparable to commercial Pt and 390%and 640%of those of pristine graphite.An investigation of the material characteristics reveals that the superior performance of Fe-Ndoped graphene results from the full exposure of Fe2O3 nanoparticles,pyrrolic N,pyridinic N and excellent Fe-N-G active sites on the graphene matrix.This work not only suggests the strategy of maximally exposing active sites to optimize the potential of catalysts but also provides promising catalysts for the use of microbial fuel cells in sustainable energy generation.
基金financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Shenhua Group Corp. (Grant No. U1261103)
文摘The effects of inoculum species, substrate concentration, temperature, and cathodic electron acceptors on electricity production of microbial fuel cells （MFCs） were investigated in terms of start-up time and power output. When inoculated with aeration tank sludge, this MFC outperformed the cell that was inoculated with anaerobic sludge in terms of start-up time and power output. After running for a certain time period, the dominant populations of the two MFCs varied significantly. Within the tested range of substrate concentration （200-1800 mg L-l）, the voltage output increased and the time span of the electricity generation lengthened with increasing substrate concentration. As the temperature declined from 35 to 10 ℃, the maximum power density reduced from 2.229 to 1.620 W m-3, and anodic polarization resistance correspondingly dropped from 118 to 98 Ω. The voltage output of MFC-Cu2＋ was 0.447 V, which is slightly lower than that achieved with MFC-[Fe（CN）6]3- （0.492 V）, thereby indicating that MFCs could be used to treat wastewater con- taining Cu2＋ pollutant in the cathode chamber with removal of organics in anode chamber and simultaneous electricity generation.
