title: Fouling of proton exchange membrane (PEM) deteriorates the performance of microbial fuel cell.
abstract: The fouling characteristics of proton exchange membrane (PEM) in microbial fuel cell (MFC) and the resulting deterioration of MFC performance were explored in this study. It was observed that the ion exchange capacity, conductivity and diffusion coefficients of cations of PEM were reduced significantly after fouling. Imaging analysis coupled with FTIR analysis indicated that the fouling layer attached on PEM consisted of microorganisms encased in extracellular polymers and inorganic salt precipitations. The results clearly demonstrate that PEM fouling deteriorated the performance of MFCs and led to a decrease in electricity generation. Cation transfer limitation might play an important role in the deterioration of MFC performance because of the membrane fouling. This was attributed to the physical blockage of charge transfer in the MFC resulted from the membrane fouling. With the experimental results, the effect of membrane fouling on the electrical generation of MFCs was evaluated. It was found that the decreased diffusion coefficients of cations and cathodic potential loss after membrane fouling contributed mainly to the deterioration of the MFC performance.
authors.affiliation: School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Guo-Ping
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Sheng
authors.forename: Hong-Wei
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Wen-Wei
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Long-Fei
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Han-Qing
authors.initials: HQ
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources / Q000592:standards*; D057219:Biofouling; D004560:Electricity; D004566:Electrodes; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007474:Ion Exchange; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D011522:Protons; D013052:Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D011522:Protons