Shape-controllable binderless self-supporting hydrogel anode for microbial fuel cells

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are potentially used for electricity generation, but their low power output hinders their practical application. This study presents novel, porosity binderless PPy-CS-CNT hydrogel materials, which were prepared using Fe(NO3)(3) as an initiator. It can be seen from the results of SEM and swelling ratio that the prepared material had a uniform structure with rich three-dimensional porosity and showed good water retention performance. Electrochemical tests showed that the charge transfer impedance (R-ct) of PPy-CS-CNT anode displayed a reduction in comparison with PPy anode (1.06 Omega vs. 2.20 Omega). And the power density of MFC with PPy-CS-CNT anode reached 364 mW m(-2), which was 1.36 times as much as that of MFC with PPy anode. High-throughput sequencing results showed that the PPy-CS-CNT hydrogel bioanode exhibits good biocompatibility and selective enrichment of electrogenic bacteria. The dominant genera on PPy-CS-CNT hydrogel anode are the electroactive bacteria, Rhodopsedomonas (47.69%) and Geobacter (8.47%). Therefore, the PPy-CS-CNT hydrogel anode showed a potential for improving the electricity production performance of MFCs. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.