Electricity Performance Of Electrode Materials In Microbial Fuel Cells

Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) is an install which decompose the substrate compound under the effect of the anode microorganisms, and to change the chemical energy of the substratum into electrical energy. Under suitable anode microbes, MFC can use a variety of organic compounds as substrates, especially sewage and industrial waste water, and other organic matters. The biggest advantage is that the MFC is a kind of clean energy, can be used to solve the current energy shortage and environmental pollution problems at the same time. MFC is drawing an increasing attention as a completely renewable energy device using new biological technology to produce clean electricity. The current research of MFC focuses on how to improve the electrical properties of the system, to increase the output power. So choosing a suitable electrode material is very important in MFC system. A good electrode is not only adapt to the growth of micro-organisms, but also be an effective transfer to deliver electron. In this study, using a dual-chamber microbial fuel cell (MFC) with Shewanella putrefaciens PV4 as the anode electricity-producing bacteria, a comparison of external voltage and power output with carbon paper electrode MFC, carbon cloth electrode MFC, carbon felt electrode MFC.By comparing the polarization curve and power density curve, the results showed that the performance of carbon paper electrode MFC was better than the two separate ones. The external voltage of carbon paper electrode MFC could reach 807mV, following by the carbon cloth electrode MFC, could reach 770mV,and the last one was the carbon felt electrode MFC, reached 740mV.The maximum power density of carbon paper was 450 mV · m-2,the carbon cloth was 294.274 mV · m-2,and the carbon felt was 206.496 mV - m-2.The CV curve of the electrode material showed that all three electrode materials MFC systems had peaks between -0.4 to -0.6V, which proven to have a redox potential mediated by microbes, this that carbon paper MFC system is running well.Determination internal resistance of three different electrode materials MFC system, observed that the internal resistance result was carbon paper< carbon cloth< carbon felt, a further proof of the superiority of carbon paper MFC cell system.The results show that the copper cast electrode material has a good performance,but there are still some problem to be solved. The carbon paper, carbon cloth, carbon felt are more suitable as electrode materials in MFC system, The carbon paper electrode MFC system was more stable in all parameter. It can used for further study.