Modifying Ti3C2 MXene with NH4+ as an excellent anode material for improving the performance of microbial fuel cells

Abstract

Poor anode performance is one of the main bottlenecks in the development of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) for practical applications. Multilayered Ti3C2 MXene (m-MXene) is an alternative anode modification material because of its high specific surface area and electrical conductivity. However, the multilayered structure, negatively charged surface, and electropositivity of m-MXene could limit its modification effects. In this work, we used a solution-phase flocculation method (ammonium ion method) to restack and aggregate MXene nanosheets as an anode modification material (n-MXene). The n-MXene-modified anode had a higher specific surface area, surface hydrophilicity and surface electropositivity than the m-MXene-modified anode. The n-MXene-modified anode obtained a maximum current density of 2.1 A m−2, which was 31.2% and 61.5% higher than that of the m-MXene-modified anode (1.6 A m−2) and bare carbon fiber cloth anode (1.3 A m−2). This improved anode performance was attributed to both the decrease in the charge transfer resistance and diffusion resistance, which were related to the increased quantity of biomass and microbial nanowire (or pili)-shaped filaments on the electrode surface. This work provides a simple and cost-effective approach to prepare MXene nanosheets for the modification of MFC anodes.