Abstract
The choice of anode materials and structure has an important influence on the performance of microbial fuel cells (MFCs). In this paper, a flexible and compressible bioanode with the features of integration of electricity generation and energy storage in MFCs was reported. With sponge skeleton as the substrate, this bioanode has been coated with carbon nanotubes and graphene, and then aniline has been polymerized on it. Compared with a carbon nanotube-sponge electrode, the charge transfer impedance of the polyaniline composite bioanode decreases from 26.6 to 4.67 ohm, and the maximum power density increases from 259.7 to 571.5 mW m−2; meanwhile, with the charge–discharge time of 60–60 min, the stored charge increases by 4.7 times, and the steady current density increases by 6.2 times. These results can be ascribed to a synergistic effect of some factors including the great specific surface area and distinct macroporous architecture of the sponge substrate, the effect of two carbon nanomaterials on decreasing the bioanode resistance, the energy storage characteristic of polyaniline, and the good biocompatibility of coating materials. The MFC with the PANI/rGO/CNTs/S capacitive bioanode has a very good ability to synchronously produce electricity and store energy and can release the stored charge in short bursts, which is expected to meet the demand of electric equipment.
Graphical abstract
Schematic illustrations of the fabrication process of PANI/rGO/CNTs/S electrode.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alatraktchi FA, Zhang Y, Angelidaki I (2014) Nanomodification of the electrodes in microbial fuel cell: impact of nanoparticle density on electricity production and microbial community. Appl Energy 116:216–222
Pandey P, Shinde VN, Deopurkar RL, Kale SP, Patil SA, Pant D (2016) Recent advances in the use of different substrates in microbial fuel cells toward wastewater treatment and simultaneous energy recovery. Appl Energy 168:706–723
Zhou M, Wang H, Hassett DJ, Gu T (2013) Recent advances in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) for wastewater treatment, bioenergy and bioproducts. J Chem Technol Biotechnol 88:508–518
Liang P, Wang H, Xia X, Huang X (2010) Carbon nanotube powders as electrode modifier to enhance the activity of anodic biofilm in microbial fuel cells. Biosens Bioelectron 26:3000–3004
Chen Y, Ly Z, Xu J, Peng D, Liu Y, Chen J, Sun X, Feng C, Wei C (2012) Stainless steel mesh coated with MnO2/carbon nanotube and polymethylphenyl siloxane as low-cost and high performance microbial fuel cell cathode materials. J Power Sources 201:136–140
Rinaldi A, Mecheri B, Garavaglia V, Licoccia S, Nardoc PD, Traversa E (2008) Engineering materials and biology to boost performance of microbial fuel cells: a critical review. Energy Environ Sci 1:417–429
kumar GG, Sarathi VGS, Nahm KS (2013) Recent advances and challenges in the anode architecture and their modifications for the applications of microbial fuel cells. Biosens Bioelectron 43:461–475
Hu L, Cui Y (2012) Energy and environmental nanotechnology in conductive paper and textiles. Energy Environ Sci 5:6423–6435
Ghasemi M, Daud WRW, Hassan SHA, Oh SE, Ismail M, Rahimnejad M, Jahim JM (2013) Nano-structured carbon as electrode material in microbial fuel cells: a comprehensive review. J Alloys Compd 580:245–255
Ghasemi M, Daud WRW, Mokhtarian N, Mayahi A, Ismail M, Anisi F, Sedighi M, Alam J (2013) The effect of nitric acid, ethylenediamine, and diethanolamine modified polyaniline nanoparticles anode electrode in a microbial fuel cell. Int J Hydrog Energy 38:9525–9532
Park HI, Sanchez D, Cho SK, Yun M (2008) Bacterial communities on electron-beam Pt-deposited electrodes in a mediator-less microbial fuel cell. Environ Sci Technol 42:6243–6249
Park DH, Zeikus JG (2002) Impact of electrode composition on electricity generation in a single-compartment fuel cell using Shewanella putrefaciens. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 59:58–61
Adachi M, Shimomura T, Komatsu M, Yakuwa H, Miya A (2008) A novel mediator-polymer-modified anode for microbial fuel cells. Chem Commun 2055–2057
Yuan Y, Kim S (2008) Polypyrrole-coated reticulated vitreous carbon as anode in microbial fuel cell for higher energy output. Bull Kor Chem Soc 29:168–172
Cheng S, Logan BE (2007) Ammonia treatment of carbon cloth anodes to enhance power generation of microbial fuel cells. Chem Commun 9:492–496
Zhao Y, Watanabe K, Nakamura R, Mori S, Liu H, Ishii K, Hashimoto K (2010) Three-dimensional conductive nanowire networks for maximizing anode performance in microbial fuel cells. Chem-Eur J 16:4982–4985
Xie X, Hu L, Pasta M, Wells GF, Kong D, Criddle CS, Cui Y (2011) Three-dimensional carbon nanotube-textile anode for high-performance microbial fuel cells. Nano Lett 11:291–296
Gong XB, You SJ, Yuan Y, Zhang JN, Sun K, Ren NQ (2015) Three-dimensional pseudocapacitive interface for enhanced power production in a microbial fuel cell. ChemElectroChem 2:1307–1313
Xie X, Ye M, Hu L, Liu N, McDonough JR, Chen W, Alshareef HN, Criddle CS, Cui Y (2012) Carbon nanotube-coated macroporous sponge for microbial fuel cell electrodes. Energy Environ Sci 5:5265–5270
Ge J, Yao HB, Hu W, Yu XF, Yan YX, Mao LB, Li HH, Li SS, Yu SH (2013) Facile dip coating processed graphene/MnO2 nanostructured sponges as high performance supercapacitor electrodes. Nano Energy 2:505–513
Erbay C, Yang G, de Figueiredo P, Sadr R, Yu C, Han A (2015) Three-dimensional porous carbon nanotube sponges for high-performance anodes of microbial fuel cells. J Power Sources 298:177–183
Deeke A, Sleutels THJA, Hamelers HVM, Buisman CJN (2012) Capacitive bioanodes enable renewable energy storage in microbial fuel cells. Environ Sci Technol 46:3554–3560
Lv Z, Xie D, Li F, Hu Y, Wei C, Feng C (2014) Microbial fuel cell as a biocapacitor by using pseudo-capacitive anode materials. J Power Sources 246:642–649
Peng L, You S, Wang J (2010) Carbon nanotubes as electrode modifier promoting direct electron transfer from Shewanella oneidensis. Biosens Bioelectron 25(5):1248–1251
Xiao L, Damien J, Luo J, Jang HD, Huang J, He Z (2012) Crumpled graphene particles for microbial fuel cell electrodes. J Power Sources 208:187–192
Ding C, Liu H, Zhu Y, Wan M, Jiang L (2012) Control bacterial extracellular electron transfer by a solid-state mediator of polyaniline nanowire arrays. Energy Environ Sci 5:8517–8522
Qiao Y, Li CM, Bao S, Bao Q (2007) Carbon nanotube/polyaniline composite as anode material for microbial fuel cells. J Power Sources 170(1):79–84
Wang Y, Wen Q, Chen Y, Yin J, Duan T (2016) Enhanced performance of a microbial fuel cell with a capacitive bioanode and removal of Cr (VI) using the intermittent operation. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 180:1372–1385
Li F, Shi JJ, Qin X (2010) Synthesis and supercapacitor characteristics of PANI/CNTs composites. Chin Sci Bull 55:1100–1106
Chaudari HK, Kelkar DS (1997) Investigation of structure and electrical conductivity in doped polyaniline. Polym Int 42:380–384
Tang JH, Yuan Y, Liu T, Zhou SG (2015) High-capacity carbon-coated titanium dioxide core-shell nanoparticles modified three dimensional anodes for improved energy output in microbial fuel cells. J Power Sources 274:170–176
Acknowledgements
The project was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21476053 and 51179033).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Xu, H., Wu, J., Qi, L. et al. Preparation and microbial fuel cell application of sponge-structured hierarchical polyaniline-texture bioanode with an integration of electricity generation and energy storage. J Appl Electrochem 48, 1285–1295 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10800-018-1252-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10800-018-1252-9