Fabrication of Nanomodified Anodes for Power Density Enhancement of Microbial Fuel Cells

2009 ◽  
Vol 1170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Schaller ◽  
Yanzhen Fan ◽  
Shoutao Xu ◽  
Alan Fern ◽  
Frank Chaplen ◽  
...  

AbstractMicrobial fuel cells (MFCs) use microorganisms to simultaneously break down organic materials and generate electricity. One of the greatest challenges in the practical application of MFCs is to sufficiently increase their power generation. Nanomodified graphite carbon anodes were prepared for use in MFCs to enhance the electron transport from the microbes to the electrode. Nanomodification to the anodes included growth of nanoparticles and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Nanoparticles of various metals, including Au, Ni, Pd, and Fe, were synthesized through thermal annealing and Fe catalyzed MWCNTs were synthesized through chemical vapor deposition. Power density was measured in MFCs for each type of nanomodified electrodes. Significant increase in power density was observed for the MFC with anodes decorated with MWCNTs (with 50-100nm diameters).

Fuels ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-178
Author(s):  
Marzia Quaglio ◽  
Daniyal Ahmed ◽  
Giulia Massaglia ◽  
Adriano Sacco ◽  
Valentina Margaria ◽  
...  

Sediment microbial fuel cells (SMFCs) are energy harvesting devices where the anode is buried inside marine sediment, while the cathode stays in an aerobic environment on the surface of the water. To apply this SCMFC as a power source, it is crucial to have an efficient power management system, leading to development of an effective energy harvesting technique suitable for such biological devices. In this work, we demonstrate an effective method to improve power extraction with SMFCs based on anodes alternation. We have altered the setup of a traditional SMFC to include two anodes working with the same cathode. This setup is compared with a traditional setup (control) and a setup that undergoes intermittent energy harvesting, establishing the improvement of energy collection using the anodes alternation technique. Control SMFC produced an average power density of 6.3 mW/m2 and SMFC operating intermittently produced 8.1 mW/m2. On the other hand, SMFC operating using the anodes alternation technique produced an average power density of 23.5 mW/m2. These results indicate the utility of the proposed anodes alternation method over both the control and intermittent energy harvesting techniques. The Anode Alternation can also be viewed as an advancement of the intermittent energy harvesting method.


RSC Advances ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (63) ◽  
pp. 50968-50974 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinhua Tang ◽  
Haoran Li ◽  
Zhuwei Du ◽  
Weida Wang ◽  
How Yong Ng

Polypyrrole hydrogels/carbon nanotubes enhanced electrocatalytic activity, biocompatibility and power density in microbial fuel cells.


2015 ◽  
Vol 642 ◽  
pp. 231-235
Author(s):  
Che Hung Wei ◽  
Jui Feng Yang ◽  
Chao I Wang

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films is useful in many applications. To improve the tribological properties in DLC, we spin coat the multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with different solution on (100) silicon. DLC was deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) with C2H2and H2. The results show that the ID/IGratio is increasing with higher CNTs content while the friction coefficient and critical load are decreasing with larger CNTs contents. The decreasing friction coefficient results from graphitation on the surface due to higher sp2content. The decreasing critical load is attributed to higher internal stress. The effect of friction coefficient and CNT concentration on stress distribution is studied by a nanoscratch finite element analysis. The results indicate that low friction coefficient and high CNT concentration will reduce the stress magnitude in the film. Therefore, the decreasing friction coefficient in CNT doped DLC film with increasing CNT concentration should reduce stress in the film and is good for adhesion. The discrepancy between friction coefficient and critical load is explained in terms of high internal stress during deposition. A surface treatment on CNT before deposition to reduce internal stress is currently under investigation.


2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (S2) ◽  
pp. 304-305
Author(s):  
M Ellis ◽  
T Jutarosaga ◽  
S Smith ◽  
Y Wei ◽  
S Seraphin

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2008 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, August 3 – August 7, 2008


2013 ◽  
Vol 667 ◽  
pp. 534-537
Author(s):  
M.Z. Nuraini ◽  
S. Aishah ◽  
S.F. Nik ◽  
Mohamad Rusop

Fermented tapioca which is a new starting material was used as a carbon precursor. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were deposited on silicon wafer (Si) by Thermal Chemical Vapor Deposition (TCVD). The gas flow of Argon (Ar) was constant at 70 bubbles per minute and 20 minutes of deposition time. Before the deposition process, silicon was coated with Nickel using spin coater. Various parameters such as amount of inoculums have been studied. Chemical functional groups of carbon nanotubes were characterized using FT-IR Spectroscopy. The FT-IR result shows peaks attributed to multi–walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) vibration modes.


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