Supercapacitive microbial fuel cell: Characterization and analysis for improved charge storage/delivery performance. (October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Houghton, Jeremiah; Santoro, Carlo; Soavi, Francesca; Serov, Alexey; Ieropoulos, Ioannis; Arbizzani, Catia; Atanassov, Plamen
• Is Part Of: Bioresource technology. Volume 218(2016)
• Page Start: 552
• Page End: 560
• Publication Date: 2016-10
• Subjects: Microbial fuel cell (MFC) -- Supercapacitor (SC) -- Electrode area -- Linear model -- Power performance; Biomass -- Periodicals; Biomass energy -- Periodicals; Bioremediation -- Periodicals; Agricultural wastes -- Periodicals; Factory and trade waste -- Periodicals; Organic wastes -- Periodicals; Bioénergie -- Périodiques; Déchets agricoles -- Périodiques; Déchets industriels -- Périodiques; Déchets organiques -- Périodiques; Déchets (Combustible) -- Périodiques; 662.88
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2016.06.105
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0960-8524

Abstract

Highlights: Supercapacitive MFCs with various anode and cathode dimensions are investigated. Cathode is limiting bottle supercapacitive MFC performance. Increase in cathode area led to decrease in ohmic resistances and increase in capacitance. The performance of a hypothetical cylindrical MFC is linearly modelled. A 21 cm 3 cylindrical MFC can deliver a peak power of 25 mW at 70 mA and 1300 W m −3 . Abstract: Supercapacitive microbial fuel cells with various anode and cathode dimensions were investigated in order to determine the effect on cell capacitance and delivered power quality. The cathode size was shown to be the limiting component of the system in contrast to anode size. By doubling the cathode area, the peak power output was improved by roughly 120% for a 10 ms pulse discharge and internal resistance of the cell was decreased by ∼47%. A model was constructed in order to predict the performance of a hypothetical cylindrical MFC design with larger relative cathode size. It was found that a small device based on conventional materials with a volume of approximately 21 cm 3 would be capable of delivering a peak power output of approximately 25 mW at 70 mA, corresponding to ∼1300 W m −3 .