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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Eileen Yu, Emeritus Professor Keith Scott, Dr Enren Zhang
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
In this paper, graphite granule composite electrodes are prepared for microbial fuel cells (MFCs) by coating commercial graphite granules with the mixture of quaternary DABCO polysulfone or Nafion ion exchange polymer and carbon black. The results of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) suggest that the addition of carbon black could significantly improve the electrical conductivity of graphite granule anodes. When phosphate buffer solution (PBS) is replaced by NaCl solution, the current densities of the pristine anode, 0.08g Nafion coated anode and 0.16g QDPSU coated anode decrease by 52.6 %, 20.6 % and 10.3 % at -0.2 V (vs. Ag/AgCl), respectively. The solution resistance of ion exchange polymer coated anodes is more stable in comparison with that of pristine anode. After 40 operational days, the performance drop of 0.16 g QDPSU coated anode when switching the solution from PBS to NaCl is still smaller than that of pristine anode. However, 0.08g Nafion coated anode shows the similar performance in NaCl solution to the pristine anode after long term operation. This study reveals that QDPSU anion exchange polymer is more suitable for the anode modification. The QDPSU coated anode promises a great potential for three-dimensional anode based MFCs to treat domestic wastewater.
Author(s): Xu W, Lia D, Maoa X, Yu E, Scott K, Zhang E, Wang D
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Power Sources
Year: 2016
Volume: 330
Pages: 211-218
Print publication date: 31/10/2016
Online publication date: 10/09/2016
Acceptance date: 05/09/2016
Date deposited: 23/09/2016
ISSN (print): 0378-7753
ISSN (electronic): 1873-2755
Publisher: Elsevier
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2016.09.019
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2016.09.019
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