Effect of Polypyrrole-Fe3O4 Composite Modified Anode and Its Electrodeposition Time on the Performance of Microbial Fuel Cells

Liping Fan,Yaobin Xi

doi:10.3390/en14092461

Abstract

Anode modification is a useful method to increase the performance of microbial fuel cells (MFCs). By using the electrochemical deposition method, Fe3O4 and polypyrrole (PPy) were polymerized on a carbon felt anode to prepare Fe3O4-PPy composite modified anodes. In order to ascertain the effect of electrodeposition time on characteristics of the modified electrode, the preparation time of the modified electrode was adjusted. The modified anodes were used in MFCs, and their performances were evaluated by analyzing the electricity generation performance and sewage treatment capacity of MFCs. Experimental results indicated that the Fe3O4-PPy composite modified anodes could enhance the power production capacity and sewage treatment efficiency of MFC effectively. In particular, when the deposition time was 50 min, the modified anode could significantly improve the MFC performance. In this case, the steady-state current density of MFC increased by 59.5% in comparison with that of the MFC with an unmodified carbon felt anode, and the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal rate was 95.3% higher than that of the unmodified anode. Therefore, the Fe3O4-PPy composite is an effective material for electrode modification, and a good anode modification effect can be obtained by selecting the appropriate electrodeposition time.

Highlights

Up to now, fossil fuels remain the main energy source for our daily life and industrial and agricultural production
The dualchamber microbial fuel cells (MFCs) was composed of an anode chamber and a cathode chamber separated by a proton exchange membrane in the middle, and electrodes were placed in the chamber
To obtain a good contrast effect, five groups of MFC experimental systems with the same structure and configuration were operated at the same time to ensure that other conditions except comparison items were the same

Summary

Introduction

Fossil fuels remain the main energy source for our daily life and industrial and agricultural production. Excessive exploitation and use of fossil fuels causes resource exhaustion, and causes serious environmental pollution [1,2,3]. The two problems of lack of energy source and pollution of environment have become bottleneck problems that restrict the sustainable development of human society and even threaten the survival of human beings and the fate of the Earth. Due to the potential functionality in wastewater treatment and bioenergy production, MFC is regarded as a promising green power generation technology and a new sewage treatment process with many benefits such as cleanliness, effectiveness, recyclability, and less toxic products [7,8,9,10]. MFC has low power output in the current research, which restricts its practical application [11]

Methods

Results

Conclusion