A method for assessing the performance of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) is the polarisation sweep where different external resistances are applied at set intervals (sample rates). The resulting power curves often exhibit an overshoot where both power and current decrease concomitantly. To investigate these phenomena, small-scale (1 mL volume) MFCs operated in continuous flow were subjected to pol...

Effects of cathode types on the long-term stability of microbial fuel cell (MFC) and the anodic microbial communities were studied using K(3)Fe(CN)(6) catholyte (R1), air cathode (R2) and biocathode (R3) over a testing time of 400 d. Upon 400 d of testing, the maximum power densities (P(max)) of R1 and R2 decreased by 44% and 37%, and the Coulombic efficiencies (CEs) decreased 8.4% (R1) and 2.0...

For the development of long lasting portable microbial fuel cells (MFCs) new strategies are necessary to overcome critical issues such as hydraulic pump system and the biochemical substrate retrieval overtime to sustain bacteria metabolism. The present work proposes the use of a synthetic solid anolyte (SSA), constituted by agar, carbonaceous and nitrogen sources dissolved into diluted seawater...

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) represent a clean and renewable energy resource. To date, power generation in MFCs is severely limited. In order to improve performance, a wide range of techniques have been utilised for a fundamental scientific understanding of the components and processes and also to investigate MFC performance bottlenecks. In this tutorial review, we discuss the electrochemical/el...

Arcobacter butzleri strain ED-1 is an exoelectrogenic epsilonproteobacterium isolated from the anode biofilm of a microbial fuel cell. Arcobacter sp. strain L dominates the liquid phase of the same fuel cell. Here we report the finished and annotated genome sequences of these organisms.

A mediatorless microbial fuel cell based on the direct biocatalysis of Escherichia coli shows significantly enhanced performance by using bacteria electrochemically-evolved in fuel cell environments through a natural selection process and a carbon/PTFE composite anode with an optimized PTFE content.

Application of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) to wastewater treatment for direct recovery of electric energy appears to provide a potentially attractive alternative to traditional treatment processes, in an optic of costs reduction, and tapping of sustainable energy sources that characterizes current trends in technology. This work focuses on a laboratory-scale, air-cathode, and single-chamber MFC...

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) attracts growing efforts as a kind of environmentally friendly biotechnology. In this study, the aerobic bacterium Bacillus subtilis has been utilized in a dual-chambered upflow microbial fuel cell fueled with actual domestic wastewater. The MFC system was continuously operated for 75 days. The performance of the UMFC was mainly evaluated in accordance with the COD rem...