Microbial electrolysis cells with polyaniline/multi-walled carbon nanotube-modified biocathodes

Yingwen Chen, Yuan Xu, Liuliu Chen, Peiwen Li, Shemin Zhu and Shubao Shen

Energy, 2015, vol. 88, issue C, 377-384

Abstract: In this paper, we modified biocathodes with PANI (Polyaniline)/MWCNT (Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube) composites to improve hydrogen production in single-chamber, membrane-free biocathode MECs. The results showed that the hydrogen production rates increased with an increase in applied voltage. At an applied voltage of 0.9 V, the modified biocathode MECs achieved a hydrogen production rate of 0.67m3m−3d−1, current density of 205 Am−3, COD of 86.8%, coulombic efficiency of 72%, cathodic hydrogen recovery of 42%, and energy efficiency of 81% with respect to the electrical power input. LSV (Linear Sweep Voltammetry) scans, SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) images and DGGE (Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis) demonstrated that hydrogen production is catalyzed by the special biofilm attached on a modified biocathode, and the microorganism species and quantity present were significantly different between the modified biocathode and the non-modified biocathode. In general, the performance of MECs with modified biocathodes was improved in the presence of a higher current density and hydrogen generation rate.

Keywords: Microbial electrolysis cell; Wastewater treatment; Hydrogen production; Modified biocathode; Polyaniline/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544215006386
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:88:y:2015:i:c:p:377-384

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2015.05.057

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().