Soil microbial fuel cells with low-cost anode made of rice husk charcoal and Japanese drawing ink “Bokuju”

Abstract

The performance of soil microbial fuel cells (SMFCs) is greatly affected by the material of the anode. In this study, a low-cost material was fabricated based on rice husk charcoal (RHC) and cheaply available Bokuju (Japanese black drawing ink). Using the fabricated material to make the anode, the SMFC obtained a maximum power density of 9.52 μW/cm2. RHC showed a significant impact on the performance of the anode electrodes. Also, the ratio of RHC to Bokuju affected the output of the SMFC.