title: Scalable air cathode microbial fuel cells using glass fiber separators, plastic mesh supporters, and graphite fiber brush anodes.
abstract: The combined use of brush anodes and glass fiber (GF1) separators, and plastic mesh supporters were used here for the first time to create a scalable microbial fuel cell architecture. Separators prevented short circuiting of closely-spaced electrodes, and cathode supporters were used to avoid water gaps between the separator and cathode that can reduce power production. The maximum power density with a separator and supporter and a single cathode was 75 ± 1 W/m(3). Removing the separator decreased power by 8%. Adding a second cathode increased power to 154 ± 1 W/m(3). Current was increased by connecting two MFCs connected in parallel. These results show that brush anodes, combined with a glass fiber separator and a plastic mesh supporter, produce a useful MFC architecture that is inherently scalable due to good insulation between the electrodes and a compact architecture.
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Shaoan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Bruce E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Logan
mesh_terms: D000388:Air; D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources / Q000382:microbiology*; D004560:Electricity; D004563:Electrochemistry; D004566:Electrodes; D005898:Glass; D006108:Graphite; D010969:Plastics
chemical_list: D010969:Plastics; C009753:fiberglass; D006108:Graphite