468243 Bioelectricity Generation from a Carbon Soot Electrode Using a Paper Based Microbial Fuel Cell

Tuesday, November 15, 2016: 1:40 PM
Golden Gate 4 (Hilton San Francisco Union Square)
Ramya Veerubhotla, Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India, Saikat Chakraborty, Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India and Debabrata Das, Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, Khargpur, India

Disposable energy harvesting devices on a paper based platform in Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) can provide low cost and affordable power supply in resource limited regions[1]. Electrodes play crucial role in these devices. The tedious and multiple steps involved in the fabrication of electrodes currently limit the application of MFC. Present research work deals with a readily available eyeliner as a novel conductive ink for the electrode preparation in paper based MFC. The inherent capillary action of the paper matrix allows a quick absorption of the ink when coated[2]. This results in the formation of a highly porous integrated paper electrode. The application of these coated electrodes was shown in a paper based air-breathing MFC where both anode and cathode were prepared using such coated conductive papers. An MFC employs exoelectrogenic-microbes as catalysts in the anode chamber to harness power from wastewater. When an air-cathode is used in the device configuration, it yields water as the only byproduct[3]. Using such device on a paper platform, a maximum power of 12.5 W/m3 was obtained from a single device with Shewanella putrefaciens as the biocatalyst. Such an electrode can further find various applications in flexible electronics, electrochemical sensors and analytical devices.

References

[1] F Sharifi, S Ghobadian , F R Cavalcantiand NastaranHashemi, Renew. Sust. Energ. Rev., 2015, 52, 1453–1472.

[2] L. Hu, J. W. Choi, Y. Yang, S. Jeong, F. La Mantia, L.-F. Cui and Y. Cui, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A., 2009, 106, 21490–21494.

[3] R. Veerubhotla, A. Bandopadhyay, D. Das and S. Chakraborty, Lab Chip, 2015, 15, 2580–2583.


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