A Comprehensive Study on Air-Cathode Limitations and Its Mitigation Strategies in Microbial Desalination Cell—A Review

Microbial desalination cells (MDCs) are promising bioelectrochemical systems for using the bacteria-generated electricity from biodegradation of organic wastes contained in wastewater. Instead being a sustainable and eco-friendly technology, large-scale application MDC was limited due to high installation cost metal-catalyst-coated cathode electrode poor performance long-term operation catalyst fouling. Such cathodic limitations have hindered its application. The limitation has arisen mainly because three losses, such as (1) Ohmic loss, (2) mass transfer (3) activation loss. catalyst-assisted reduction reaction is an electrochemical surface phenomenon; thereby, cathode’s charge thermodynamic efficiency crucial kinetics. This review article aims provide overview process, indicators, summarizes limiting factors that could hinder process performance. Then, represented comprehensive summary air-cathodic mechanisms applied improve enhance kinetics through modification catalysts. study significantly different other studies by precise identification illustration losses their mitigation strategies modification. details about role photocatalysts minimization improvement were well presented.