Title of Paper:Performance of Stainless Steel Mesh Cathode and PVDF-graphite Cathode in Microbial Fuel Cells

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Date of Publication:2010-01-01

Included Journals:CPCI-S、SCIE、Scopus

Volume:1251

Page Number:316-+

Key Words:Microbial fuel cell; Cathode; Stainless steel; Polyvinylidene fluoride; Poly(tetrafluoroethylene)

Abstract:Inexpensive and conductive materials termed as stainless steel mesh and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)-graphite were currently used as the air cathode electrodes in MFCs for the investigation of power production. By loading PTFE (poly(tetrafluoroethylene)) on the surface of stainless steel mesh, electricity production reached 3 times as high as that of the naked stainless steel. A much high catalytic activity for oxygen reduction was exhibited by Pt based and PTFE loading stainless steel mesh cathode, with an electricity generation of 1144 +/- 44 mW/m(2) (31 +/- 1 W/m(3)) and a Coulombic efficiency (CE) of 77 +/- 2%. When Pt was replaced by an inexpensive transition metal based catalyst (cobalt tetramethylphenylporphyrin, CoTMPP), power production and CE were 845 +/- 21 mW/m(2) (23 +/- 1 W/m(3)) and 68 +/- 1%, respectively. Accordingly, power production from PVDF-graphite (hydrophobic) MFC and PVDF-graphite (hydrophile) MFC were 286 +/- 20 mW/m(2)(8 +/- 1 W/m(3)) and 158 +/- 13 mW/m(2)(4 +/- 0.4 W/m(3)), respectively using CoTMPP as catalyst. These results give us new insight into materials like stainless steel mesh and PVDF-graphite as low cost cathode for reducing the costs of MFCs for wastewater treatment applications.