Review on Material and Design of Anode for Microbial Fuel Cell

Aritro Banerjee, Rajnish Kaur Calay and Mohamad Mustafa
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Aritro Banerjee: Faculty of Engineering Science and Technology, UiT—The Arctic University of Norway, 8514 Narvik, Norway
Rajnish Kaur Calay: Faculty of Engineering Science and Technology, UiT—The Arctic University of Norway, 8514 Narvik, Norway
Mohamad Mustafa: Faculty of Engineering Science and Technology, UiT—The Arctic University of Norway, 8514 Narvik, Norway

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 6, 1-17

Abstract: Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) is a bio-electrochemical system that generates electricity by anaerobic oxidation of substrates. An anode is the most critical component because the primary conversion of wastewater into electrons and protons takes place on the surface of the anode, where a biofilm is formed. This paper describes the essential properties of the anode and classifies its types according to the material used to make it. Anode material is responsible for the flow of electrons generated by the microorganism; hence biocompatibility and conductivity can considered to be the two most important properties. In this paper, the various modification strategies to improve the performance of anodes of MFC are explained through the review of researchers’ published work in this field. The shape and size of the anode turned out to be very significant as the microbial growth depends on the available surface area. The attachment of biofilm on the surface of an anode largely depends on the interfacial surface chemistry. Methods for improving MFC performance by altering the anode material, architecture, biocompatibility, and longevity are discussed with a future perspective giving special importance to the cost.

Keywords: microbial fuel cell; properties of anode; carbon-based material; conductive polymer; advanced Hummer’s method; polymer coating; nanocomposite material; metal-based anode; scaleup challenges (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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