This study compared the difference in microbial community and power generation capacity of air-cathode MFCs enriched under anode aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Results showed that MFCs successfully started with continuous air inputting to anode chamber. The aerobic enriched MFC produced comparable and even more electricity with the fuels of acetate, glucose and ethanol compared to the anaero...

Ion back-bombardment is the dominant mechanism that limits the operating lifetime of DC high voltage GaAs photoelectron guns. In this work, an electrically isolated anode electrode was used to distinguish the QE damage contributions of ions produced within the cathode/anode gap and those produced downstream of the anode. This new anode design provides a means to suppress QE decay due to ionized...

We report a methodology for enhancing the mass transfer at the anode electrode of sediment microbial fuel cells (SMFCs), by employing a fabric baffle to create a separate water-layer for installing the anode electrode in sediment. The maximum power in an SMFC with the anode installed in the separate water-layer (SMFC-wFB) was improved by factor of 6.6 compared to an SMFC having the anode embedd...

Carbon nanofibers modified graphite fibers (CNFs/GF) composite electrode was prepared for anode in high substrate concentration microbial fuel cells. Electrochemical tests showed that the CNFs/GF anode generated a peak current density of 2.42 mA cm(-2) at a low acetate concentration of 20 mM, which was 54% higher than that from bare GF. Increase of the acetate concentration to 80 mM, in which t...

*Correspondence: Fanglin Chen, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of South Carolina, 300 Main Street, Columbia, SC 29208, USA e-mail: [email protected] Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) can convert chemical energy from the fuel directly to electrical energy with high efficiency and fuel flexibility. Ni-based cermets have been the most widely adopted anode for SOFCs. However, the conv...

Impedance changes of the anode, cathode and solution were examined for an air-cathode microbial fuel cell (MFC) under varying conditions. An MFC inoculated with a pre-enriched microbial culture resulted in a startup time of less than ten days. Over this period, the anode impedance decreased below the cathode impedance, suggesting a cathode-limited power output. Increasing the anode flow rate di...

The operation and accumulation of liquid water within the cell structure of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) with a dead-ended anode is observed using neutron imaging. The measurements are performed on a single cell with 53 square centimeter active area, Nafion 111-IP membrane and carbon cloth Gas Diffusion Layer (GDL). Even though dry hydrogen is supplied to the anode via press...

The upflow microbial fuel cell (MFC) system with membrane-free air-cathode was developed, and landfill leachate as fuel. The anode was made of stainless steel mesh filled with activated carbon, and carbon felt as the cathode. Electricity production performance of MFC with cylindrical stainless steel mesh anode filled with 0 (unfilled), 1mm, and 3mm cylindrical activated carbon particles was inv...

Geobacter species are capable of utilizing solid-state compounds, including anodic electrodes, as electron acceptors of respiration via extracellular electron transfer (EET) and have attracted considerable attention for their crucial role as biocatalysts of bioelectrochemical systems (BES's). Recent studies disclosed that anode potentials affect power output and anodic microbial communities, in...

Five rigid graphite plates were embedded in evenly divided sections of sediment, ranging from 2 cm (A1) to 10 cm (A5) below the top sediment layer. The maximum power and current of the MFCs increased in depth order; however, despite the increase in the internal resistance, the power and current density of the A5 MFC were 2.2 and 3.5 times higher, respectively, than those of the A1 MFC. In addit...