Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cells incorporating microchannels (D<500 μm) can benefit from improved fuel delivery and convective cooling. However, this requires a better understanding of twophase microchannel transport phenomena, particularly liquid-gas interactions and liquid clogging in cathode air-delivery channels. This paper develops optical fluorescence imaging of water films i...

a r t i c l e i n f o High-performance microbial fuel cell (MFC) air cathodes were constructed using a combination of inexpensive materials for the oxygen reduction cathode catalyst and the electrode separator. A poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)-based electrode separator enabled high coulombic efficiencies (CEs) in MFCs with activated carbon (AC) cathodes without significantly decreasing power output....

A biocathode was designed by the modification of a carbon nanotube (CNT) gas-diffusion electrode with bilirubin oxidase from Bacillus pumilus, achieving high current densities up to 3 mA cm(-2) for the reduction of O2 from air. A membraneless air-breathing hydrogen biofuel cell was designed by combination of this cathode with a functionalized CNT-based hydrogenase anode.

The development of lithium–air batteries is plagued by a high potential gap (>1.2V) between charge and discharge, and poor cyclability due to the drastic phase change of O2 (gas) and O (condensed phase) at the cathode during battery operations. Here we report a cathode consisting of nanoscale amorphous lithia (nanolithia) confined in a cobalt oxide, enabling charge/discharge between solid Li2O/...

In 1895, the German physicist, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845-1923), who was 50 years old by then, studied cathode rays with Crookes tubes. He was more precisely concerned with the penetration of the rays through the glass. At the time, it had already been established that cathode rays could pass through the tube wall and penetrate a few centimetres in the air. In the evening of November 8, durin...

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have been used to produce electricity from different compounds, including acetate, lactate, and glucose. We demonstrate here that it is also possible to produce electricity in a MFC from domestic wastewater, while atthe same time accomplishing biological wastewater treatment (removal of chemical oxygen demand; COD). Tests were conducted using a single chamber microbi...

Activated carbon (AC) air-cathodes are inexpensive and useful alternatives to Pt-catalyzed electrodes in microbial fuel cells (MFCs), but information is needed on their long-term stability for oxygen reduction. AC cathodes were constructed with diffusion layers (DLs) with two different porosities (30% and 70%) to evaluate the effects of increased oxygen transfer on power. The 70% DL cathode ini...