Abstract
An inexpensive carbon material, carbon mesh, was examined to replace the more expensive carbon cloth usually used to make cathodes in air-cathode microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Three different diffusion layers were tested using carbon mesh: poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), and Goretex cloth. Carbon mesh with a mixture of PDMS and carbon black as a diffusion layer produced a maximum power density of 1355 ± 62 mW m -2 (normalized to the projected cathode area), which was similar to that obtained with a carbon cloth cathode (1390 ± 72 mW m-2). Carbon mesh with a PTFE diffusion layer produced only a slightly lower (6.6%) maximum power density (1303 ± 48 mW m-2). The Coulombic efficiencies were a function of current density, with the highest value for the carbon mesh and PDMS (79%) larger than that for carbon cloth (63%). The cost of the carbon mesh cathode with PDMS/Carbon or PTFE (excluding catalyst and binder costs) is only 2.5% of the cost of the carbon cloth cathode. These results show that low cost carbon materials such as carbon mesh can be used as the cathode in an MFC without reducing the performance compared to more expensive carbon cloth. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 9317-9321 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Journal of Power Sources |
Volume | 196 |
Issue number | 22 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 2011 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): KUS-I1-003-13
Acknowledgements: We gratefully acknowledge help with materials and suggestions by David Jones, Dr. Yiying Hong, Dr. John Pisciotta, Dan Sun and Dr. Justin Tokash. This work was supported by Award KUS-I1-003-13 from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), and a scholarship from the China Scholarship Council (CSC).
This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.