Performance Improvement of MFCs by Treatment of Carbon Cloth Anode with Ultrasonic or Spent Anolyte

2013 
In order to improve the power generation of microbial fuel cells (MFCs), carbon cloth anode was treated with ultrasonic or spent anolyte in this work. The maximum power density of a single-chamber air-cathode MFC was improved from 611.5 mW/m2 to 754.3 mW/m2 and 811.7 mW/m2, and the reactor start-up time was shortened by 7.3% and 22.7% respectively after treatments of the anode with ultrasonic and spent anolyte. Polarization tests reveal that the treated anodes have a smaller electrode polarization at high current densities than the control. MFCs with the treated anodes exhibited lower internal resistances than the untreated anode, which may arise from the enhanced substrate oxidation activity and extra-cellular electron transfer efficiency on these anodes. Results from this study indicated that treatment of anode with ultrasonic or spent anolyte was a simple and effective approach for improving the performance of MFCs.
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