High power density redox-mediated Shewanella microbial flow fuel cells

Abstract

Microbial fuel cells utilize exoelectrogenic microorganisms to directly convert organic matter into electricity, offering a compelling approach for simultaneous power generation and wastewater treatment. However, conventional microbial fuel cells typically require thick biofilms for sufficient metabolic electron production rate, which inevitably compromises mass and charge transport, posing a fundamental tradeoff that limits the achievable power density (<1 mW cm−2). Herein, we report a concept for redox-mediated microbial flow fuel cells that utilizes artificial redox mediators in a flowing medium to efficiently transfer metabolic electrons from planktonic bacteria to electrodes. This approach effectively overcomes mass and charge transport limitations, substantially reducing internal resistance. The biofilm-free microbial flow fuel cell thus breaks the inherent tradeoff in dense biofilms, resulting in a maximum current density surpassing 40 mA cm−2 and a highest power density exceeding 10 mW cm−2, approximately one order of magnitude higher than those of state-of-the-art microbial fuel cells.