Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Volume 44, Issue 7, Pages 2740-2744Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/es9032937
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Funding
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
- U.S. Department of Energy [DE AC05-00OR22725]
- American Chemical Society
- Petroleum Research Fund
- Green Chemistry Initiative
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Changes in the anode, cathode, and solution/membrane impedances during enrichment of an anode microbial consortium were measured using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The consortium was enriched in a compact, flow-through porous electrode chamber coupled to an air-cathode. The anode impedance initially decreased from 296.1 to 36.3 Omega in the first 43 days indicating exoelectrogenic biofilm formation. The external load on the MFC was decreased in a stepwise manner to allow further enrichment. MFC operation at a final load of 50 Omega decreased the anode impedance to 1.4 Omega, with a corresponding cathode and membrane/solution impedance of 12.1 and 3.0 Omega, respectively. An analysis of the capacitive element suggested that most of the three-dimensional anode surface was participating in the bioelectrochemical reaction. The power density of the air-cathode MFC stabilized after 3 months of operation and stayed at 422 +/- 42 mW/m(2) (33 W/m(3)) for the next 3 months. The normalized anode impedance for the MFC was 0.017 k Omega cm(2), a 28-fold reduction over that reported previously. This study demonstrates a unique ability of biological systems to reduce the electron transfer resistance in MFCs, and their potential for stable energy production over extended periods of time.
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