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Improved microbial fuel cell performance by encapsulating microbial cells with a nickel-coated sponge

2012; Elsevier BV; Volume: 41; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.bios.2012.08.014

1873-4235

Xueying Liu, Xiaoyu Du, Xia Wang, Naiqiang Li, Ping Xu, Yi Ding,

Supercapacitor Materials and Fabrication

Development of novel anodic materials that could facilitate microbial biofilm formation, substrate transfer, and electron transfer is vital to enhance the performance of microbial fuel cells (MFCs). In this work, nickel-coated sponge, as a novel and inexpensive material with an open three-dimensional macro-porous structure, was employed as an anode to encapsulate microbial cells. Compared with planar carbon paper, the nickel-coated sponge did not only offer a high surface area to facilitate microbial cells attachment and colonization but also supported sufficient substrate transfer and electron transfer due to multiplexed and highly conductive pathways. As expected, the resulting nickel-coated sponge biofilm demonstrated excellent electrochemical activity and power output stability during electricity generation processes. A higher maximum power density of 996 mW m−2 and a longer, more stable electricity generation period were achieved with the nickel-coated sponge biofilm than previously reported results. Notably, chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal reached 90.3% in the anode chamber, suggesting that the nickel-coated sponge is a highly promising anodic material and an efficient immobilization method for the fabrication of MFCs.