Magnetic assembling GO/Fe3O4/microbes as hybridized biofilms for enhanced methane production in microbial electrosynthesis

Yuting He, Qing Li, Jun Li, Liang Zhang, Qian Fu, Xun Zhu and Qiang Liao

Renewable Energy, 2022, vol. 185, issue C, 862-870

Abstract: Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) is capable of converting CO2 to CH4 using microorganisms as biocatalysts, but its performance is significantly restrained by the inherent weakness of naturally-grown biofilms, especially the low biomass loading on biocathodes. Here, we report a top-down biosynthetic approach to fabricate hybridized biofilms on biocathodes, and significantly enhance the methane production. In particular, microbes are captured and artificially loaded on the biocathode with the presence of graphene oxide (GO) and Fe3O4 nanoparticles. The aggregate of reduced graphene oxide (rGO), Fe3O4 and microbes brought in an initial high loading of microbes through magnetic assembling, resulting in a thick and dense biofilm on the rGO/Fe3O4 scaffold. The biocathode achieved an unprecedented CH4-producting rate of 605 ± 119 mmol/m2/d at −0.9 V vs. Ag/AgCl, which increased by 14.5-fold compared to the carbon cloth biocathode. This approach provides new opportunities for the development of high-performance electrochemically-active biofilms for MES, as well as other bioelectrochemical systems.

Keywords: CO2 reduction; Microbial electrosynthesis; Electrode fabrication; Hybridized biofilm (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:185:y:2022:i:c:p:862-870

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2021.12.117

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