Assessment of the effects of flow rate and ionic strength on the performance of an air-cathode microbial fuel cell using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy

Doug Aaron, Costas Tsouris, Choo Y. Hamilton, Abhijeet P. Borole

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

60 Scopus citations

Abstract

Impedance changes of the anode, cathode and solution were examined for an air-cathode microbial fuel cell (MFC) under varying conditions. An MFC inoculated with a pre-enriched microbial culture resulted in a startup time of less than ten days. Over this period, the anode impedance decreased below the cathode impedance, suggesting a cathode-limited power output. Increasing the anode flow rate did not impact the anode impedance significantly, but it decreased the cathode impedance by 65%. Increasing the anode-medium ionic strength also decreased the cathode impedance. These impedance results provide insight into electron and proton transport mechanisms and can be used to improve MFC performance.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)592-606
Number of pages15
JournalEnergies
Volume3
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2010

Keywords

  • Anode impedance
  • Biofuel cell
  • Capacitance
  • Electrogenic
  • Internal resistances

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