title: Facile Fabrication of Graphene-Containing Foam as a High-Performance Anode for Microbial Fuel Cells.
abstract: Facile fabrication of novel three-dimensional anode materials to increase the bacterial loading capacity and improve substrate transport in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) is of great interest and importance. Herein, a novel graphene-containing foam (GCF) was fabricated easily by freeze-drying and pyrolysis of a graphene oxide-agarose gel. Owing to the involvement of graphene and stainless-steel mesh in the GCF, the GCF shows high electrical conductivity, enabling the GCF to be a conductive electrode for MFC applications. With the aid of agarose, the GCF electrode possesses a supermacroporous structure with pore sizes ranging from 100-200 μm and a high surface area, which greatly increase the bacterial loading capacity. Cell viability measurements indicate that the GCF possesses excellent biocompatibility. The MFC, equipped with a 0.4 mm-thick GCF anode, shows a maximum area power density of 786 mW m(-2) , which is 4.1 times that of a MFC equipped with a commercial carbon cloth anode. The simple fabrication route in combination with the outstanding electrochemical performance of the GCF indicates a promising anode for MFC applications.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Traditional Chinese Medicine, Research (Ministry of Education of China), College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081 (P. R. China).
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Traditional Chinese Medicine, Research (Ministry of Education of China), College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081 (P. R. China).
authors.forename: Shuqin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Traditional Chinese Medicine, Research (Ministry of Education of China), College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081 (P. R. China).
authors.forename: Shuqin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Traditional Chinese Medicine, Research (Ministry of Education of China), College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081 (P. R. China).
authors.forename: Hongmei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Traditional Chinese Medicine, Research (Ministry of Education of China), College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081 (P. R. China).
authors.forename: Youming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Traditional Chinese Medicine, Research (Ministry of Education of China), College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081 (P. R. China).
authors.forename: Wenfang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Traditional Chinese Medicine, Research (Ministry of Education of China), College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081 (P. R. China). tanyueming0813@126.com.
authors.forename: Yueming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Traditional Chinese Medicine, Research (Ministry of Education of China), College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081 (P. R. China).
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Traditional Chinese Medicine, Research (Ministry of Education of China), College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081 (P. R. China). xieqj@hunnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Qingji
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xie
mesh_terms: D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources / Q000382:microbiology*; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004566:Electrodes; D006108:Graphite / Q000737:chemistry*; D010087:Oxides / Q000737:chemistry*; D016062:Porosity; D012685:Sepharose / Q000737:chemistry*; D020614:Shewanella putrefaciens / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development
chemical_list: D010087:Oxides; D006108:Graphite; D012685:Sepharose
keywords: agarose; anodes; foams; graphene; microbial fuel cells