title: Heat-treated stainless steel felt as scalable anode material for bioelectrochemical systems.
abstract: This work reports a simple and scalable method to convert stainless steel (SS) felt into an effective anode for bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) by means of heat treatment. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry elucidated that the heat treatment generated an iron oxide rich layer on the SS felt surface. The iron oxide layer dramatically enhanced the electroactive biofilm formation on SS felt surface in BESs. Consequently, the sustained current densities achieved on the treated electrodes (1 cm(2)) were around 1.5±0.13 mA/cm(2), which was seven times higher than the untreated electrodes (0.22±0.04 mA/cm(2)). To test the scalability of this material, the heat-treated SS felt was scaled up to 150 cm(2) and similar current density (1.5 mA/cm(2)) was achieved on the larger electrode. The low cost, straightforwardness of the treatment, high conductivity and high bioelectrocatalytic performance make heat-treated SS felt a scalable anodic material for BESs.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
authors.forename: Alexander H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Soeriyadi
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium; School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou 310012, China.
authors.forename: Huajun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Antonin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Prévoteau
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Sunil A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Patil
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
authors.forename: J Justin
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Gooding
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium. Electronic address: korneel.rabaey@ugent.be.
authors.forename: Korneel
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rabaey
mesh_terms: D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources; D018441:Biofilms; D002384:Catalysis; D004560:Electricity; D004563:Electrochemistry / Q000379:methods*; D004566:Electrodes; D006358:Hot Temperature; D056951:Photoelectron Spectroscopy; D013193:Stainless Steel / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D013193:Stainless Steel
keywords: Bioelectrochemical systems; Heat treatment; Scalable anode; Stainless steel felt; Surface modification