title: Supercapacitive microbial fuel cell: Characterization and analysis for improved charge storage/delivery performance.
abstract: Supercapacitive microbial fuel cells with various anode and cathode dimensions were investigated in order to determine the effect on cell capacitance and delivered power quality. The cathode size was shown to be the limiting component of the system in contrast to anode size. By doubling the cathode area, the peak power output was improved by roughly 120% for a 10ms pulse discharge and internal resistance of the cell was decreased by ∼47%. A model was constructed in order to predict the performance of a hypothetical cylindrical MFC design with larger relative cathode size. It was found that a small device based on conventional materials with a volume of approximately 21cm(3) would be capable of delivering a peak power output of approximately 25mW at 70mA, corresponding to ∼1300Wm(-3).
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, Center for Micro-Engineered Materials (CMEM), University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.
authors.forename: Jeremiah
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Houghton
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, Center for Micro-Engineered Materials (CMEM), University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Santoro
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry "Giacomo Ciamician", Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Via Selmi, 2, 40126 Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Soavi
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, Center for Micro-Engineered Materials (CMEM), University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.
authors.forename: Alexey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Serov
authors.affiliation: Bristol BioEnergy Centre, Bristol Robotics Laboratory, Block T, UWE, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol BS16 1QY, UK; Biological, Biomedical and Analytical Sciences, UWE, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol BS16 1QY, UK.
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ieropoulos
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry "Giacomo Ciamician", Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Via Selmi, 2, 40126 Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Catia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Arbizzani
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, Center for Micro-Engineered Materials (CMEM), University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA. Electronic address: plamen@unm.edu.
authors.forename: Plamen
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Atanassov
mesh_terms: D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources; D025802:Electric Capacitance; D004566:Electrodes; D008962:Models, Theoretical
keywords: Electrode area; Linear model; Microbial fuel cell (MFC); Power performance; Supercapacitor (SC)