Abstract
The need to find a feasible alternative to commercial membranes for microbial fuel cells (MFCs) poses an important challenge for the practical implementation of this technology. This work aims to analyse the influence of the internal structure of low-cost terracotta clay-based membranes on the behaviour of MFCs. To this purpose, 9 different combinations of temperature and time were used to prepare 27 MFC separators. The results show that the temperature has a significant effect on both porosity and pore size distribution, whereas the ramp time do not show a significant influence on these parameters. It was observed that kilning temperatures higher than 1030 °C dramatically reduce the porosity of the samples, reaching a minimum value of 16.85%, whereas the pore size increases as the temperature also increases. Among the membranes with similar porosities, those with a medium pore size distribution exhibited the lowest bulk resistance allowing MFCs to reach the highest power output (94.67 μW cm−2). These results demonstrate the importance of not only the porosity but also the pore size distribution of the separator in terms of MFC performance and longevity, which for these experiments was for 90 days.
Highlights
In recent years, there has been a growing concern about the envi ronmental impact of humankind behaviour and the interest in developing clean technologies has exponentially increased
The results show that large pores coupled to low porosity of the ceramic membrane do not align with high performance
The use of ceramic membranes as a low-cost alternative to com mercial membranes in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) brings numerous advantages but it is crucial to optimise their structure in order to improve the power per formance of these devices
Summary
There has been a growing concern about the envi ronmental impact of humankind behaviour and the interest in developing clean technologies has exponentially increased. The structure of an MFC consists of an anodic chamber, where bacteria oxidised the organic matter contained in a broad range of substrates, and a cathodic chamber where the reduction of an oxidant takes place, which is usually oxygen. Both chambers are physically separated by a selective separator or membrane [3,4,5]. Among the different types of substrates, complex types of feedstock have been reported to be more promising for MFC practical applications, whereas simple materials are more suitable for laboratory scale and preliminary work [6,7]. Great efforts have been made for optimising the design of these devices as well as maximising the
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