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Bi-directional electrical characterisation of microbial fuel cell

Ledezma, P.; Greenman, J.; Ieropoulos, I. A.; Ledezma, Pablo; Degrenne, N.; Bevilacqua, P.; Greenman, John; Buret, F.; Ieropoulos, Ioannis; Allard, B.

Authors

P. Ledezma

J. Greenman

I. A. Ieropoulos

Pablo Ledezma

N. Degrenne

P. Bevilacqua

F. Buret

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

B. Allard



Abstract

The electrical performance of microbial fuel cells in steady-state is usually investigated by standard characterisation methods that reveal many important parameters e.g. maximum power. This paper introduces a novel " bi-directional" method to study how the acquisition parameters (i.e. sweep rate and sweep regime) can influence measurements and consequently performance estimations. The investigation exhibited considerable differences (hysteresis) between the forward and backward characterisation regimes, indicating a difficulty to reach steady-state under certain conditions. Moreover, it is found that fast sweep rates (time-step of 2. min) can lead to an overestimation of the short-circuit currents, while prolonged operation with high external loads leads to maximum power overestimation and extended conditioning at high currents can result in its underestimation. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jan 1, 2013
Journal Bioresource Technology
Print ISSN 0960-8524
Electronic ISSN 1873-2976
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 128
Pages 769-773
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2012.10.110
Keywords microbial fuel cell, electrical performance, static characteristics, dynamic characteristics, hysteresis
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/936057
Publisher URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2012.10.110