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Improved power and long term performance of microbial fuel cell with Fe-N-C catalyst in air-breathing cathode

Gajda, Iwona; Greenman, John; Santoro, Carlo; Serov, Alexey; Melhuish, Chris; Atanassov, Plamen; Ieropoulos, Ioannis

Improved power and long term performance of microbial fuel cell with Fe-N-C catalyst in air-breathing cathode Thumbnail


Authors

Iwona Serruys Iwona.Gajda@uwe.ac.uk
Senior Lecturer in Engineering Management

Carlo Santoro Carlo.Santoro@uwe.ac.uk
Associate Professor in Bio-Energy

Alexey Serov

Chris Melhuish Chris.Melhuish@uwe.ac.uk
Professor of Robotics & Autonomous Systems

Plamen Atanassov

Yannis Ieropoulos Ioannis2.Ieropoulos@uwe.ac.uk
Professor in Bioenergy & Director of B-B



Abstract

© 2017 Power output limitation is one of the main challenges that needs to be addressed for full-scale applications of the Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) technology. Previous studies have examined electrochemical performance of different cathode electrodes including the development of novel iron based electrocatalysts, however the long-term investigation into continuously operating systems is rare. This work aims to study the application of platinum group metals-free (PGM-free) catalysts integrated into an air-breathing cathode of the microbial fuel cell operating on activated sewage sludge and supplemented with acetate as the carbon energy source. The maximum power density up to 1.3 Wm−2 (54 Wm−3) obtained with iron aminoantipyrine (Fe-AAPyr) catalyst is the highest reported in this type of MFC and shows stability and improvement in long term operation when continuously operated on wastewater. It also investigates the ability of this catalyst to facilitate water extraction from the anode and electroosmotic production of clean catholyte. The electrochemical kinetic extraction of catholyte in the cathode chamber shows correlation with power performance and produces a newly synthesised solution with a high pH > 13, suggesting caustic content. This shows an active electrolytic treatment of wastewater by active ionic and pH splitting in an electricity producing MFC.

Citation

Gajda, I., Greenman, J., Santoro, C., Serov, A., Melhuish, C., Atanassov, P., & Ieropoulos, I. (2018). Improved power and long term performance of microbial fuel cell with Fe-N-C catalyst in air-breathing cathode. Energy, 144, 1073-1079. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.11.135

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Nov 24, 2017
Online Publication Date Nov 24, 2017
Publication Date Feb 1, 2018
Deposit Date Dec 4, 2017
Publicly Available Date Dec 4, 2017
Journal Energy
Print ISSN 0360-5442
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 144
Pages 1073-1079
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.11.135
Keywords microbial fuel cell, cathode catalyst, catholyte extraction, caustic catholyte, electro-osmosis
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/874031
Publisher URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.11.135
Related Public URLs https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.11.135

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