title: Performance and microbial diversity of microbial fuel cells coupled with different cathode types during simultaneous azo dye decolorization and electricity generation.
abstract: To study the effect of cathode type on performance and microbial diversity of the MFC, aerobic biocathode and air-cathode were incorporated into microbial fuel cells (MFCs) which were explored for simultaneous azo dye decolorization and electricity generation. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) results demonstrated that the catalytic activity of the microorganisms on the biocathode surface was comparable with that of the platinum coated on the air-cathode. The power density achieved by using biocathode was lower than air-cathode, but the biocathode could greatly improve the Congo red decolorization rate. By using the biocathode, 96.4% decolorization of Congo red was obtained within 29 h, whereas, about 107 h was required to achieve the same decolorization efficiency with the air-cathode. 16S rRNA sequencing analysis demonstrated a phylogenetic diversity in the communities of the anode biofilm and showed clear differences between the anode-attached populations in the MFCs with a different cathode type.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Ecological Remediation for Industrial Agglomeration Area, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China. houbin566@163.com
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Yongyou
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D001391:Azo Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000378:metabolism; D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources; D003116:Color; D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D004560:Electricity; D004566:Electrodes; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D001391:Azo Compounds; D004396:Coloring Agents