Improving the power performance of urine-fed microbial fuel cells using PEDOT-PSS modified anodes

Salar-Garcia, M. J.; Montilla, F.; Quijada, C.; Morallon, E.; Ieropoulos, Ioannis

Abstract

© 2020 The Authors The need for improving the energy harvesting from Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) has boosted the design of new materials in order to increase the power performance of this technology and facilitate its practical application. According to this approach, in this work different poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT-PSS) modified electrodes have been synthesised and evaluated as anodes in urine-fed MFCs. The electrochemical synthesis of PEDOT-PSS was performed by potentiostatic step experiments from aqueous solution at a fixed potential of 1.80 V (vs. a reversible hydrogen electrode) for different times: 30, 60, 120 and 240 s. Compared with other methods, this technique allowed us not only to reduce the processing time of the electrodes but also better control of the chemical composition of the deposited polymer and therefore, obtain more efficient polymer films. All modified anodes outperformed the maximum power output by MFCs working with the bare carbon veil electrode but the maximum value was observed when MFCs were working with the PEDOT-PSS based anode obtained after 30 s of electropolymerisation (535.1 µW). This value was 24.3% higher than using the bare carbon veil electrode. Moreover, the functionality of the PEDOT-PSS anodes was reported over 90 days working in continuous mode.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 15, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Aug 25, 2020
• Publication Date: Nov 15, 2020
• Deposit Date: Oct 30, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 5, 2020
• Journal: Applied Energy
• Print ISSN: 0306-2619
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 278
• Article Number: 115528
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115528
• Keywords: microbial fuel cells; PEDOT-PSS; bioenergy; urine
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/6804385