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Characterization of Bone Char and Carbon Xerogel as Sustainable Alternative Bioelectrodes for Bioelectrochemical Systems

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Abstract

Bioelectrochemical systems (BES) are growing future sustainable energy and chemical production technologies that combine biological catalytic redox activity with classic abiotic electrochemical reactions and physics. Several aspects of these systems, such as cell configuration, applied voltage, electrode materials, inoculum/substrate, and low-cost electrodes to facilitate scaling, have been studied and reported. This work focuses on the development of inexpensive materials with desirable characteristics for use as electrodes for BES. The two selected carbon-based anode materials were carbon xerogels and bone char; both have different surface morphologies and are carbonaceous materials with precursors that allow control of their porosity. Industrial-grade raw material and cattle bone waste were used to fabricate the anodes. The electrochemical properties of the bone char and carbon xerogel electrodes were characterized by the open circuit voltage (OCV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and cyclic voltammetry. Chronoamperometry was recorded for 25 days to follow the setup bioanodes. When the microbial bioanode process was completed, the bioelectrodes were immersed into fresh inoculum/substrate, and BES were operated for 10 days at the OCV until a relatively constant cell voltage output was achieved. The results show that the carbon xerogel surface area (468 m2/g) is 5 times higher than bone char, but the xerogel surface roughness is lower than that of the char. Similar to the electrochemical properties, the current density of the xerogel (25 mA/cm2) is 4 times less than that of the bone; therefore, the biofilm growth is promoted on the bone char surface. Our findings show that the bone char bioanode has a capacitance feature of 1.65 F/m2, which is even higher than the double layer capacitances of carbon-based materials reported in the literature. Hence, it is possible to use BES for simultaneous production and storage of renewable electricity.

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Acknowledgements

EDIP thanks CONACyT-SENER for her postdoctoral fellowship. BCQ thanks the financial support from CONACyT-SENER-FSE (Project 247006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigación Y Desarrollo Tecnológico en Electroquímica S.C (CIDETEQ), Parque Tecnológico Querétaro Sanfandila, 76703, Pedro Escobedo, Querétaro, Mexico

    E. D. Isaacs-Páez, F. Manríquez-Guerrero & B. Cercado

  2. Centro de Investigación Y Estudios de Posgrado, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Ave. Dr. M. Nava No. 6, Zona Universitaria, 78260, San Luis de Potosí, Mexico

    N. Medellín-Castillo

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  1. E. D. Isaacs-Páez
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Isaacs-Páez, E.D., Medellín-Castillo, N., Manríquez-Guerrero, F. et al. Characterization of Bone Char and Carbon Xerogel as Sustainable Alternative Bioelectrodes for Bioelectrochemical Systems. Waste Biomass Valor 11, 4885–4894 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-019-00817-4

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