Bacterial Competition for the Anode Colonization under Different External Resistances in Microbial Fuel Cells

Anode materials for sediment microbial fuel cells.

INTRODUCTION Plant microbial fuel cells (P-MFCs), and more general sediment microbial fuel cells, make use of electricigenic metabolism of microorganisms in anoxic soils and sediments. Electricigenic microorganisms are able to respire organic carbon from the soil or sediment with an electrode as final electron acceptor [1]. In this work, the focus is on the anode buried in the sediment, the ele...

Performance of a Single Chamber Soil Microbial Fuel Cell at Varied External Resistances for Electric Power Generation

Effect of cathode types on long-term performance and anode bacterial communities in microbial fuel cells.

Effects of cathode types on the long-term stability of microbial fuel cell (MFC) and the anodic microbial communities were studied using K(3)Fe(CN)(6) catholyte (R1), air cathode (R2) and biocathode (R3) over a testing time of 400 d. Upon 400 d of testing, the maximum power densities (P(max)) of R1 and R2 decreased by 44% and 37%, and the Coulombic efficiencies (CEs) decreased 8.4% (R1) and 2.0...

Evaluation of multi-brush anode systems in microbial fuel cells.

The packing density of anodes in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) was examined here using four different graphite fiber brush anode configurations. The impact of anodes on performance was studied in terms of carbon fiber length (brush diameter), the number of brushes connected in parallel, and the wire current collector gage. MFCs with different numbers of brushes (one, three or six) set perpendicul...

Copper anode corrosion affects power generation in microbial fuel cells

Non-corrosive, carbon-based materials are usually used as anodes in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). In some cases, however, metals have been used that can corrode (e.g. copper) or that are corrosion resistant (e.g. stainless steel, SS). Corrosion could increase current through galvanic (abiotic) current production or by increasing exposed surface area, or decrease current due to generation of toxi...