(1) Understanding the role of peroxide lead free radical attack on the polymer electrolyte at the interface with both anode and cathode electrodes using a specially designed PEM cell enabling accelerated degradation conditions simulating practical H2/Air PEM operation. In this effort the correlation was made with peroxide yield measured directly using RRDE methods with concomitant degradation o...

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) represent a novel technology for wastewater treatment with electricity production. Electricity generation with simultaneous nitrate reduction in a single-chamber MFC without air cathode was studied, using glucose (1 mM) as the carbon source and nitrate (1 mM) as the final electron acceptor employed by Bacillus subtilis under anaerobic conditions. Increasing current a...

Exoelectrogenic microorganisms in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) compete with other microorganisms for substrate. In order to understand how this affects removal rates, current generation, and coulombic efficiencies (CEs), substrate removal rates were compared in MFCs fed a single, readily biodegradable compound (acetate) or domestic wastewater (WW). Removal rates based on initial test conditions ...

With gasoline now more than $2.00 a gallon, alternate automobile technologies will be discussed with greater interest and developed with more urgency. For our government, the hydrogen fuel cell-powered automobile is at the top of the list of future technologies. This paper presents a simple description of the principles behind this technology and a brief discussion of the pros and cons. It is a...

Catalysts and catalyst binders are significant portions of the cost of microbial fuel cell (MFC) cathodes. Many materials have been tested as aqueous cathodes, but air-cathodes are needed to avoid energy demands for water aeration. Packed-bed air-cathodes were constructed without expensive binders or diffusion layers using four inexpensive carbon-based materials. Cathodes made from activated ca...

The characteristics of a Zinc/Air (Zn/Air) primary cell are discussed. In addition, current technologies and the corresponding electrical performance are introduced. The basic principles of operation of a Zn/Air primary cell are discussed, focusing on the anode, cathode, and electrolyte. Basic kinetic and transport expressions are developed for the two main components of the cell: the anode and...

Six La1-xSrxCoO3-δ (x= 0, 0.05, 0.15, 0.25, 0.35, 0.50) perovskites were synthesised and characterised by powder XRD and cyclic voltammetry on cone-shaped electrodes in either air or nitric oxide in argon at 200, 300 and 400C. At 200C the current densities in air was highest for the strontium free cobaltite, whereas the current densities was highest for La0.95Sr0.05CoO3-δ in the nitric oxide co...

Cathode catalysts and binders were examined for their effect on power densities in single chamber, air-cathode, microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Chronopotentiometry tests indicated thatthe cathode potential was only slightly reduced (20-40 mV) when Pt loadings were decreased from 2 to 0.1 mg cm(-2), and that Nafion performed better as a Pt binder than poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE). Replacing the...

Nitrogen removal is needed in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) for the treatment of most waste streams. Current designs couple biological denitrification with side-stream or combined nitrification sustained by upstream or direct aeration, which negates some of the energy-saving benefits of MFC technology. To achieve simultaneous nitrification and denitrification, without extra energy input for aerat...

The dynamic modes related to mass and energy of a high-temperature proton-exchange-membrane fuel cell are investigated. For a particular configuration, three lumped-parameters dynamic equations are considered to represent hydrogen pressure in the anode, oxygen fraction in the cathode, and stack temperature. For each of these, a simple controller algorithm is developed. These algorithms are test...