Carbon nanofluid flow based biophotovoltaic cell

Fluidic flow can improve the transport of matters in many engineering applications. Here, we introduced a biophotovoltaic cell in which hydrodynamic flow was adopted to enhance the mass transfer performance for electrochemical devices. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were used as a filler for conductive nanofluid. Synechococcus sp. was used as a microbial photosynthetic cell. The electrochemical characteristics of the carbon nanofluid were analyzed. It was found that a conductive pathway generated by CNTs could transfer electrons from cells to electrode efficiently. The effect of flow direction was evaluated by injecting the cell medium into the device in the parallel and transverse directions. A significantly enhanced photocurrent was harvested when applying the transverse flow to the electrode. In addition, numerical simulation was conducted to support the experimental results.

Automated summary

In a biophotovoltaic cell, mass transfer performance was enhanced using hydrodynamic flow, with the combination of carbon nanotubes and microbial photosynthetic cells. Experimental results showed a significantly enhanced photocurrent when applying transverse flow to the electrode.