scholarly journals Platinum-free, graphene based anodes and air cathodes for single chamber microbial fuel cells

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (45) ◽  
pp. 23872-23886 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toby P. Call ◽  
Tian Carey ◽  
Paolo Bombelli ◽  
David J. Lea-Smith ◽  
Philippa Hooper ◽  
...  

In this work graphene-based aerogel anodes and graphene/stainless steel cathodes have been optimised as platinum-free electrodes in Rhodopseudomonas palustris microbial fuel cells, achieving a maximum power output of ∼3.5 W m−3.

2004 ◽  
Vol 96 (4) ◽  
pp. 1277-1284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy L. P. G. Jentjens ◽  
Luke Moseley ◽  
Rosemary H. Waring ◽  
Leslie K. Harding ◽  
Asker E. Jeukendrup

The purpose of the present study was to examine whether combined ingestion of a large amount of fructose and glucose during cycling exercise would lead to exogenous carbohydrate oxidation rates >1 g/min. Eight trained cyclists (maximal O2consumption: 62 ± 3 ml·kg-1·min-1) performed four exercise trials in random order. Each trial consisted of 120 min of cycling at 50% maximum power output (63 ± 2% maximal O2consumption), while subjects received a solution providing either 1.2 g/min of glucose (Med-Glu), 1.8 g/min of glucose (High-Glu), 0.6 g/min of fructose + 1.2 g/min of glucose (Fruc+Glu), or water. The ingested fructose was labeled with [U-13C]fructose, and the ingested glucose was labeled with [U-14C]glucose. Peak exogenous carbohydrate oxidation rates were ∼55% higher ( P < 0.001) in Fruc+Glu (1.26 ± 0.07 g/min) compared with Med-Glu and High-Glu (0.80 ± 0.04 and 0.83 ± 0.05 g/min, respectively). Furthermore, the average exogenous carbohydrate oxidation rates over the 60- to 120-min exercise period were higher ( P < 0.001) in Fruc+Glu compared with Med-Glu and High-Glu (1.16 ± 0.06, 0.75 ± 0.04, and 0.75 ± 0.04 g/min, respectively). There was a trend toward a lower endogenous carbohydrate oxidation in Fruc+Glu compared with the other two carbohydrate trials, but this failed to reach statistical significance ( P = 0.075). The present results demonstrate that, when fructose and glucose are ingested simultaneously at high rates during cycling exercise, exogenous carbohydrate oxidation rates can reach peak values of ∼1.3 g/min.


Materials ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 379
Author(s):  
Ignacio T. Vargas ◽  
Natalia Tapia ◽  
John M. Regan

During the last decade, bioprospecting for electrochemically active bacteria has included the search for new sources of inoculum for microbial fuel cells (MFCs). However, concerning power and current production, a Geobacter-dominated mixed microbial community derived from a wastewater inoculum remains the standard. On the other hand, cathode performance is still one of the main limitations for MFCs, and the enrichment of a beneficial cathodic biofilm emerges as an alternative to increase its performance. Glucose-fed air-cathode reactors inoculated with a rumen-fluid enrichment and wastewater showed higher power densities and soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD) removal (Pmax = 824.5 mWm−2; ΔsCOD = 96.1%) than reactors inoculated only with wastewater (Pmax = 634.1 mWm−2; ΔsCOD = 91.7%). Identical anode but different cathode potentials suggest that differences in performance were due to the cathode. Pyrosequencing analysis showed no significant differences between the anodic community structures derived from both inocula but increased relative abundances of Azoarcus and Victivallis species in the cathodic rumen enrichment. Results suggest that this rarely used inoculum for single-chamber MFCs contributed to cathodic biofilm improvements with no anodic biofilm effects.


1992 ◽  
Vol 170 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. ELIZABETH ANDERSON ◽  
IAN A. JOHNSTON

Fast muscle fibres were isolated from abdominal myotomes of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.) ranging in size from 10 to 63 cm standard length (Ls). Muscle fibres were subjected to sinusoidal length changes about their resting length (Lf) and stimulated at a selected phase of the strain cycle. The work performed in each oscillatory cycle was calculated from plots of force against muscle length, the area of the resulting loop being net work. Strain and the number and timing of stimuli were adjusted to maximise positive work per cycle over a range of cycle frequencies at 8°C. Force, and hence power output, declined with increasing cycles of oscillation until reaching a steady state around the ninth cycle. The strain required for maximum power output (Wmax) was ±7-11% of Lf in fish shorter than 18 cm standard length, but decreased to ±5 % of Lf in larger fish. The cycle frequency required for Wmax also declined with increasing fish length, scaling to Ls−0.51 under steady-state conditions (cycles 9–12). At the optimum cycle frequency and strain the maximum contraction velocity scaled to Ls−0.79. The maximum stress (Pmax) produced within a cycle was highest in the second cycle, ranging from 51.3 kPa in 10 cm fish to 81.8 kPa in 60 cm fish (Pmax=28.2Ls0.25). Under steady-state conditions the maximum power output per kilogram wet muscle mass was found to range from 27.5 W in a 10 cm Ls cod to 16.4 W in a 60 cm Ls cod, scaling with Ls−0.29 and body mass (Mb)−0.10 Note: To whom reprint requests should be sent


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