Exploring new electrode materials for sustainable electricity production in microbial fuel cells

The development of new electrode materials is very important to improve microbial fuel cell (MFC) performance for waste treatment and energy production. This presentation summarizes two studies that used recycled tire crumb rubber as the anode and carbon nanotube as the cathode, respectively, to reduce material cost and improve system power output. After conductive coating treatment, the rubber anode showed much higher specific surface area than similar sized graphite granules. Power density in single chamber air-cathode tire-anode MFCs reached a maximum 421 mW/m2, with a coulombic efficiency of 25.1%. Carbon nanotube (CNT) modified air-cathodes showed higher performance in electrochemical response and power generation in MFCs than traditional carbon cloth cathodes. The maximum power density of CNT cathode was 329 mW/m2; more than twice that of the peak power obtained with carbon cloth cathodes (151 mW/m2). The addition of Pt catalysts increased the power density of CNT cathodes to 1118 mW/m2.