Polyaniline-decorated honeycomb-like structured macroporous carbon composite as an anode modifier for enhanced bioelectricity generation

The design of high-performance anodes for bioelectricity generation remains a challenge in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). In the present work, we found that sodium citrate-derived carbon (SC) with a honeycomb-like macroporous structure could be prepared by a facile pyrolysis method. Then, a novel electrode fabricated by in-situ polymerization of polyaniline (PANI) nanoparticles on the SC-loaded carbon paper (CP), named PANI@ SC-CP electrode, was used as the anode in electrochemical cells (ECs); this configuration resulted in much higher anodic current density than that of the control CP electrode. This improvement was attributed to the higher biocapacity resulting from the large Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of the SC, the outstanding hydrophilicity of PANI, and the increased extracellular electron transfer efficiency owing to the good conductivity and the excellent electrochemical activity of the PANI@SC-CP electrode as well as the enhanced interaction between the electroactive microbes and the electrode triggered by the combination of PANI and SC. The excellent performance of the PANI@SC-CP anode for bioelectricity generation was also demonstrated in MFCs inoculated with a pure or mixed culture. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.