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Enhance cathodic capacitance to eliminate power overshoot in microbial fuel cells

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Abstract

Power overshoot that presents in the power curves of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) is one of the main reasons for the deterioration of MFC performance over the high current region. In this research, the mechanisms of power overshoot were investigated with single-chamber MFCs integrated with carbon cloth anode and Fe/N-doped carbon cathodes possessing varied capacitance properties. It was revealed that insufficient anodic current produced at high potential is responsible for power overshoot generation, which could be eliminated with higher capacitive cathode (7.79 F) compared with the one with lower capacitive cathode (3.74 F). This elimination can be ascribed to the improvement of MFC capacitance induced by cathode capacitance, which was proved by MFC charge-discharge test. However, cathode capacitance can only increase the MFC capacitance to a limited extent, as power overshoot can still occur when applying long stabilization time for polarization test.

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Funding

This work is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (21607046, 51508213, 51608217, and 31700511) and Independent Innovation Foundation of HUST-Exploration Fund (2016YXMS288 and 2016YXMS291).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, People’s Republic of China

    Dongliang Wang, **g** Hu, Shaogang Hu, Longsheng Wu, Jikun Xu, Huijie Hou, Jiakuan Yang, Sha Liang, Keke ** Hu, Shaogang Hu, Longsheng Wu, Jikun Xu, Huijie Hou, Jiakuan Yang, Sha Liang, Keke **ao & Bingchuan Liu

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  1. Dongliang Wang
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  2. **g** Hu
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  3. Shaogang Hu
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Correspondence to Bingchuan Liu.

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Wang, D., Hu, J., Hu, S. et al. Enhance cathodic capacitance to eliminate power overshoot in microbial fuel cells. J Solid State Electrochem 24, 1659–1667 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-020-04670-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-020-04670-7

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