title: Enhanced biofilm distribution and cell performance of microfluidic microbial fuel cells with multiple anolyte inlets.
abstract: A laminar-flow controlled microfluidic microbial fuel cell (MMFC) is considered as a promising approach to be a bio-electrochemical system (BES). But poor bacterial colonization and low power generation are two severe bottlenecks to restrict its development. In this study, we reported a MMFC with multiple anolyte inlets (MMFC-MI) to enhance the biofilm formation and promote the power density of MMFCs. Voltage profiles during the inoculation process demonstrated MMFC-MI had a faster start-up process than the conventional microfluidic microbial fuel cell with one inlet (MMFC-OI). Meanwhile, benefited from the periodical replenishment of boundary layer near the electrode, a more densely-packed bacterial aggregation was observed along the flow direction and also the substantially low internal resistance for MMFC-MI. Most importantly, the output power density of MMFC-MI was the highest value among the reported µl-scale MFCs to our best knowledge. The presented MMFC-MI appears promising for bio-chip technology and extends the scope of microfluidic energy.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems (Chongqing University), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400030, China; Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems (Chongqing University), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400030, China; Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China. Electronic address: dingdingye@cqu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Dingding
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems (Chongqing University), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400030, China; Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China. Electronic address: lqzx@cqu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems (Chongqing University), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400030, China; Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China.
authors.forename: Pengqing
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems (Chongqing University), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400030, China; Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China.
authors.forename: Xun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems (Chongqing University), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400030, China; Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems (Chongqing University), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400030, China; Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Fu
mesh_terms: D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources; D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development*; D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D004566:Electrodes; D044085:Microfluidics / Q000379:methods
keywords: Biofilm; Laminar flow; Microfluidic; Miniature microbial fuel cells