Complete Microbial Fuel Cell Fabrication Using Additive Layer Manufacturing.

Jiseon You,Jonathan Winfield,Hangbing Fan,Ioannis A Ieropoulos

doi:10.3390/molecules25133051

Abstract

Improving the efficiency of microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology by enhancing the system performance and reducing the production cost is essential for commercialisation. In this study, building an additive manufacturing (AM)-built MFC comprising all 3D printed components such as anode, cathode and chassis was attempted for the first time. 3D printed base structures were made of low-cost, biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) filaments. For both anode and cathode, two surface modification methods using either graphite or nickel powder were tested. The best performing anode material, carbon-coated non-conductive PLA filament, was comparable to the control modified carbon veil with a peak power of 376.7 µW (7.5 W m−3) in week 3. However, PLA-based AM cathodes underperformed regardless of the coating method, which limited the overall performance. The membrane-less design produced more stable and higher power output levels (520−570 µW, 7.4−8.1 W m−3) compared to the ceramic membrane control MFCs. As the final design, four AM-made membrane-less MFCs connected in series successfully powered a digital weather station, which shows the current status of low-cost 3D printed MFC development.

Highlights

For the commercialisation of the microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology, it is imperative to improve the efficiency by enhancing the system performance and reducing the production cost
The MFC design used in this study was based on cylindrical ceramic MFCs [26,27], with the ceramic membrane sandwiched between the external tubular anode and the internal cathode exposed to air (Figure 5)
They were placed in a 60 mL-volume cylindrical plastic container that acts as an anodic chamber, as well as an MFC chassis

Summary

Introduction

For the commercialisation of the microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology, it is imperative to improve the efficiency by enhancing the system performance and reducing the production cost. This can be achieved through the optimisation of the system design for individual MFCs and stacks (in the case of scale-up), as well as the processes of manufacturing and assembly. The manufacturing methods should precisely structure such materials in order to fabricate fully functional and efficient systems. The AM process, known as three-dimensional (3D) printing, builds three-dimensional structures from computer-aided design (CAD) models by adding material layer-by-layer.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion