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Bimetallic oxide MnFe2O4 modified carbon felt anode by drip coating: an effective approach enhancing power generation performance of microbial fuel cell

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Abstract

The anode electrode of microbial fuel cell (MFC) is the key component to determine its power generation performance because it is the habitat and electron transfer center of the electricity-producing microorganisms. Carbon-based anodes have been confirmed to improve MFC performance. Its large surface area, excellent conductivity and low cost make it very suitable for electrode materials used in MFC. However, the low biocompatibility and instability of common carbon-based materials restrict their practical application in MFC. In this work, a bimetal oxide MnFe2O4 was prepared and used to modify carbon felt anode by a simple drop coating method. The influence of the amount of MnFe2O4 material on the performance of MFC was systematically studied. The results showed that the power density of the carbon felt anode with a MnFe2O4 modified amount of 1 mg/cm2 increased by 66.9% compared with the unmodified anode. Meanwhile, the MFC cycle using MnFe2O4 modified anode was more stable. After 6 months of long-term operation, the power density reached 3836 mW/m2. The anode modified by MnFe2O4 has capacitance characteristics, good biocompatibility and fast electron transmission rate, which significantly improves the power generation performance of MFC. In addition, the use of a simple drop coating method to prepare electrodes can reduce the difficulty of electrode fabrication and the cost of MFC, laying a certain foundation for the industrialization of MFC.

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The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgments

The authors sincerely acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21961028, No. 21663020) and the Science and Technology Support Program of Ningxia Province of China (NX 2015076).

Funding

This study was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21961028, No. 21663020) and the Science and Technology Support Program of Ningxia Province of China (NX 2015076).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Key Laboratory of High-Efficiency Utilization of Coal and Green Chemical Engineering, Ningxia University, Yinchuan, 750021, People’s Republic of China

    Ping Xue, Shuai Jiang, Wenlong Li, Keren Shi, Lan Ma & Peng Li

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  1. Ping Xue
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  2. Shuai Jiang
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  3. Wenlong Li
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  6. Peng Li
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ping Xue.

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Xue, P., Jiang, S., Li, W. et al. Bimetallic oxide MnFe2O4 modified carbon felt anode by drip coating: an effective approach enhancing power generation performance of microbial fuel cell. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 44, 1119–1130 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-021-02511-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-021-02511-z

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