The use of cloth fabric diffusion layers for scalable microbial fuel cells

Yong Luo, Fang Zhang, Bin Wei, Guangli Liu, Renduo Zhang, Bruce E. Logan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

A scalable and pre-manufactured cloth material (Goretex® fabric) was used as a diffusion layer (DL) material as a replacement for a liquid-applied polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) DL. Cathodes with the Goretex fabric heat-bonded to the air-side of carbon cloth cathode (CC-Goretex) produced a maximum power density of 1330±30mW/m2, similar to that using a PTFE DL (1390±70mW/m2, CC-PTFE). This method was also successfully used to produce cathodes made of inexpensive carbon mesh, which resulted in only slightly less power (1180±10mW/m2) (CM-Goretex). Coulombic efficiencies were a function of current density, with the highest value for CC-PTFE cathodes (63%), similar to CC-Goretex cathodes (61%), and slightly larger than that obtained for the CM-Goretex cathodes (54%). These results show that a commercially available fabric can easily be used as the DL in an MFC, achieving performance similar to that obtained with a more labor-intensive process based on liquid-applied DLs using PTFE. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)49-52
Number of pages4
JournalBiochemical Engineering Journal
Volume73
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2013
Externally publishedYes

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