Characterization of Microbial Fuel Cell Materials

Microbial fuel cells (MFC) are an ever-growing clean energy technology.  Like hydrogen fuel cells, they harmonize the relationship between system design parameters and operating parameters; however biological aspects must be accounted for as well.  MFCs function to recover energy from organic waste through the transfer of electrons from bacteria to an anodic surface (ex. carbon felt electrode). Optimizing the transfer of electrons from bacteria to the anodic surface is the ultimate goal.  Characterization of the carbon felt electrode was carried out with the ferri/ferrocyanide redox couple using cyclic voltammetry in an attempt to minimize the overpotential of the reduction and oxidation, thus demonstrating the electrode material’s activity. High frequency resistance was also targeted for study. Finally, cathode catalysts (ex. platinum v. non-precious metal catalyst) will be considered.  The MFC design is single-chambered and was constructed to minimize contact resistance.