Issue 42, 2014

A hierarchical porous graphene/nickel anode that simultaneously boosts the bio- and electro-catalysis for high-performance microbial fuel cells

Abstract

The microbial fuel cell (MFC) is an extremely attractive green energy source, which has gained considerable research interest, since it cleans the environment by using wastewater and/or organic wastes as fuels while harvesting electricity; however, a MFC has much lower power density than conventional fuel cells. In this study, a hierarchical porous graphene/nickel (G/Ni) composite electrode with a hierarchical porous structure over distributed pore sizes of 20 nm to 50 μm is developed by a freeze-drying assisted self-assembly process for MFC anodes. Since a MFC anode involves both electro- and bio-catalytic processes, the beauty of this G/Ni anode is its unique nanostructure that provides a high active surface area for efficient electrocatalysis, while its macroporous structure with strong biocompatibility allows bacteria growing in the pores to have high biocatalyst loading to boost biocatalysis. Thus, this binder-free hierarchical porous G/Ni anode delivers a maximum power density of 3903 mW m−2 in Shewanella putrefaciens (S. putrefaciens) MFCs, which is ∼13-fold higher than that of conventional MFC carbon cloth anode. Considering the low cost of porous Ni and the low weight percentage of graphene (5 wt%), this composite electrode offers great promise for practical, high-performance, cost-effective and mass-manufacturable MFCs.

Graphical abstract: A hierarchical porous graphene/nickel anode that simultaneously boosts the bio- and electro-catalysis for high-performance microbial fuel cells

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
18 2 2014
Accepted
25 4 2014
First published
25 4 2014

RSC Adv., 2014,4, 21788-21793

Author version available

A hierarchical porous graphene/nickel anode that simultaneously boosts the bio- and electro-catalysis for high-performance microbial fuel cells

Y. Qiao, X. Wu, C. Ma, H. He and C. M. Li, RSC Adv., 2014, 4, 21788 DOI: 10.1039/C4RA03082F

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