title: Carbon filtration cathode in microbial fuel cell to enhance wastewater treatment.
abstract: A homogeneous carbon membrane with multi-functions of microfiltration, electron conduction, and oxygen reduction catalysis was fabricated without using noble metals. The produced carbon membrane has a pore size of 553nm, a resistance of 6.0±0.4Ωcm(2)/cm, and a specific surface area of 32.2m(2)/g. After it was assembled in microbial fuel cell (MFC) as filtration air cathode, a power density of 581.5mW/m(2) and a current density of 1671.4mA/m(2) were achieved, comparable with previous Pt air cathode MFCs. The filtration MFC was continuously operated for 20days and excellent wastewater treatment performance was also achieved with removal efficiencies of TOC (93.6%), NH4(+)-N (97.2%), and total nitrogen (91.6%). In addition, the carbon membrane was much cheaper than traditional microfiltration membrane, suggesting a promising multi-functional material in wastewater treatment field.
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China.
authors.forename: Kuichang
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zuo
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China.
authors.forename: Shuai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China. Electronic address: liangpeng@tsinghua.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China.
authors.forename: Xuechen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China.
authors.forename: Dongya
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China. Electronic address: xhuang@tsinghua.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D002384:Catalysis; D004560:Electricity; D004566:Electrodes; D005374:Filtration; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000737:chemistry; D010100:Oxygen / Q000737:chemistry; D010984:Platinum / Q000737:chemistry; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D002244:Carbon; D009584:Nitrogen; D010100:Oxygen; D010984:Platinum; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Advanced wastewater treatment; Carbon filtration membrane; Energy recovery; Microbial fuel cell