3D Hierarchical Co8FeS8-FeCo2O4/N-CNTs@CF with an Enhanced Microorganisms-Anode Interface for Improving Microbial Fuel Cell Performance

Yanping Wang; Xusen Cheng; Ke Liu; Xiaofan Dai; Jinteng Qi; Zhuo Ma; Yunfeng Qiu; Shaoqin Liu

doi:10.1021/acsami.2c09622

3D Hierarchical Co₈FeS₈-FeCo₂O₄/N-CNTs@CF with an Enhanced Microorganisms-Anode Interface for Improving Microbial Fuel Cell Performance

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2022 Aug 10;14(31):35809-35821. doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c09622. Epub 2022 Jul 30.

Authors

Yanping Wang¹, Xusen Cheng², Ke Liu³, Xiaofan Dai¹, Jinteng Qi², Zhuo Ma⁴, Yunfeng Qiu^{5

6}, Shaoqin Liu^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, No. 92 West Dazhi Street, Nan Gang District, Harbin 150001, People's Republic of China.
² College of Chemistry, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, PR China.
³ School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Harbin University of Science and Technology, Harbin 150040, People's Republic of China.
⁴ School of Life Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, No. 92 West Dazhi Street, Nan Gang District, Harbin 150001, People's Republic of China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, PR China.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Microsystems and Microstructures Manufacturing, School of Medicine and Health, Harbin Institute of Technology, No. 2 Yikuang Street, Nan Gang District, Harbin 150080, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 35912639
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c09622

Abstract

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are promising ecofriendly techniques for harvesting bioenergy from organic and inorganic matter. Currently, it is challenging to design MFC anodes with favorable microorganism attachment and fast extracellular electron transfer (EET) rate for high MFC performance. Here we prepared N-doped carbon nanotubes (NCNTs) on carbon felt (CF) and used it as a support for growing hierarchical Co₈FeS₈-FeCo₂O₄/NCNTs core-shell nanostructures (FeCo/NCNTs@CF). We observed improved wettability, specific areal capacitance, and diffusion coefficient, as well as small charge transfer resistance compared with bare CF. MFCs equipped with FeCo/NCNTs@CF displayed a power density of 3.04 W/m² and COD removal amount of 221.0 mg/L/d, about 47.6 and 290.1% improvements compared with that of CF. Biofilm morphology and 16s rRNA gene sequence analysis proved that our anode facilitated the enrichment growth of exoelectrogens. Flavin secretion was also promoted on our hierarchical elelctrode, effectively driving the EET process. This work disclosed that hierarchical nanomaterials modified electrode with tailored physicochemical properties is a promising platform to simultaneously enhance exoelectrogen attachment and EET efficiency for MFCs.

Keywords: carbon nanotube; extracellular electron transfer; hierarchical nanostructure; microbial fuel cell; microorganisms−anode interface.

MeSH terms

Bioelectric Energy Sources*
Electricity
Electrodes
Electron Transport
Nanotubes, Carbon* / chemistry
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S

Substances

Nanotubes, Carbon
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S