Abstract
Sustainable cathode development has been a challenge for the emerging microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology. This study presents a simple catholyte called sodium percarbonate to serve as a new type of electron acceptor for MFCs. Lab scale comparisons showed sodium percarbonate cathode obtained comparable power density (9.6W/m3) with traditional air-cathode and potassium ferricyanide, but percarbonate showed multiple additional benefits that no other catholyte had demonstrated. Percarbonate has a sustaining natural buffering capacity that can counter pH fluctuations seen in many other systems, and the peroxide produced prevents bio-fouling problems associated with air-cathodes. It is also safer to use and has the lowest cost among popular cathode options based on per mole of electron transferred, which makes it a good candidate for modular system scale up.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 429-432 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Bioresource Technology |
Volume | 172 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 1 2014 |
Externally published | Yes |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Bioengineering
- Waste Management and Disposal
- Environmental Engineering
- Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
Keywords
- Bioelectrochemical system
- Cathode
- Catholyte
- Microbial fuel cell
- Percarbonate