Three-Dimensional Carbon Nanotube-Textile Anode for High-Performance Microbial Fuel Cells
Three-Dimensional Carbon Nanotube-Textile Anode for High-Performance Microbial Fuel Cells
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DOI：
10.1021/nl103905t
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发表时间：
2011-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
10.8
通讯作者：
Cui, Yi
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Xie, Xing;Hu, Liangbing;Cui, Yi
微生物燃料电池（MFC）利用微生物的新陈代谢，将化学能转化为电能。阳极性能是制约MFC实际应用的重要因素。因此，改进阳极设计对于提高MFC性能是重要的，但是只有很少的进展被报道。在这里，我们描述了一种生物相容性，高导电性，两个规模的多孔阳极制造的碳纳米管纺织品（CNT纺织品）复合材料的高性能MFC。交织的CNT-纺织品纤维的宏观多孔结构产生了开放的3D空间，用于有效的基质运输和由不同微生物群落的内部定殖，导致阳极电解液-生物膜-阳极界面面积比CNT-纺织品的投影表面积大10倍。共形涂覆的微米级多孔CNT层显示出与微生物生物膜的强相互作用，促进电子从外生产电菌转移到CNT-纺织品阳极。配备CNT-纺织品阳极的MFC具有10倍低的电荷转移电阻，并实现比配备传统碳布阳极的MFC更好的性能：最大电流密度高157%，最大功率密度高68%，能量回收高141%。
Microbial Fuel cells (MFCs) harness the metabolism of microorganisms, converting chemical energy into electrical energy. Anode performance is an important factor limiting the power density of MFCs for practical application. Improving the anode design is thus important for enhancing the MFC performance, but only a little development has been reported. Here, we describe a biocompatible, highly conductive, two scale porous anode fabricated from a carbon nanotube-textile (CNT-textile) composite for high-performance MFCs. The macroscale porous structure of the intertwined CNT-textile fibers creates an open 3D space for efficient substrate transport and internal colonization by a diverse microflora, resulting in a 10-fold-larger anolyte-biofilm-anode interfacial area than the projective surface area of the CNT-textile. The conformally coated microscale porous CNT layer displays strong interaction with the microbial biofilm, facilitating electron transfer from exoelectrogens to the CNT-textile anode. An MFC equipped with a CNT-textile anode has a 10-fold-lower charge-transfer resistance and achieves considerably better performance than one equipped with a traditional carbon cloth anode: the maximum current density is 157% higher, the maximum power density is 68% higher, and the energy recovery is 141 % greater.