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Improving the power generation of microbial fuel cells by modifying the anode with single-wall carbon nanohorns

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Abstract

Objectives

To increase the power generation of microbial fuel cells (MFCs), anode modification with carbon materials (activated carbon, carbon nanotubes, and carbon nanohorns) was investigated.

Results

Maximum power densities of a stainless-steel anode MFC with a non-modified electrode (SS-MFC), an activated carbon-modified electrode (AC-MFC), a carbon nanotube-modified electrode (CNT-MFC) and a carbon nanohorn-modified electrode (CNH-MFC) were 72, 244, 261 and 327 mW m−2, respectively. The total polarization resistance measured by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were 3610 Ω for SS-MFC, 283 Ω for AC-MFC, 231 Ω for CNTs-MFC, and 136 Ω for CNHs-MFC, consistent with the anode resistances obtained by fitting the anode polarization curves.

Conclusions

Single-wall carbon nanohorns are better than activated carbon and carbon nanotubes as a new anode modification material for improving anode performance.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51278448, No. 51478414) and the National Key Research and Development Plan (2016YFB0600505).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy, Department of Energy Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, People’s Republic of China

    Jiawei Yang, Shaoan Cheng, Yi Sun & Chaochao Li

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  1. Jiawei Yang
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  2. Shaoan Cheng
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  3. Yi Sun
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  4. Chaochao Li
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shaoan Cheng.

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Yang, J., Cheng, S., Sun, Y. et al. Improving the power generation of microbial fuel cells by modifying the anode with single-wall carbon nanohorns. Biotechnol Lett 39, 1515–1520 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-017-2384-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-017-2384-4

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