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Article history:
Received 15 November 2013
Received in revised form
21 February 2014
Accepted 25 February 2014
Available online 16 March 2014
A new architecture for a membraneless and single-chambered microbial fuel cell (MFC) which has a
unique bipolar plate-electrode assembly (BEA) design was demonstrated. The maximum power of MFC
units connected in series (denoted as a stacked MFC) was up to 22.8 7 0.13 mW/m2 for 0.946 7 0.003 V
working voltage, which is 2.5 times higher than the averaged maximum power density of the nonstacked MFC units. The power density in the stacked MFC using BEA was comparable to the stacked MFC
using electric wire. These results demonstrate that BEAs having air-exposed cathodes can potentially be
used in the stacking of membraneless single-chambered MFCs. In addition, we conrmed that the
current in the stacked mode owed faster than the non-stacked mode due to voltage increase by series
connection, and the poorest of the stacked units quickly faced current depletion at higher external
resistance than the non-stacked mode, leading to voltage reversal. These results imply that stacked MFC
units require a relatively large current capacity in order to prevent high voltage reversal at high current
region. To increase total current capacity and prevent voltage reversal of stacked MFC units, we
suggested series/parallel-integrated MFC module system for scaling-up. This new concept could likely
allow the application of MFC technology to be extended to various wastewater treatment processes or
plants.
& 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Microbial fuel cell
Microbial electrochemical cell
MFC stack
Series connection
Stacked MFC
1. Introduction
Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are promising technologies for
producing electricity from waste organic matter (Kim et al., 1999;
Chang et al., 2006). For this reason, researchers have been striving
to use these devises for energy-recovering wastewater treatment.
The maximum theoretical voltage from a single individual MFC is
!1.1 V at pH 7 at open circuit mode, when acetate is used as the
electron donor and O2 as the electron acceptor (Logan et al., 2006).
However, an achievable working voltage in a single MFC ranges
from ! 0.2 to ! 0.5 V that is not sufcient for operating electronics
(Kim et al., 2011, 2012), which typically require an input voltage of
over 1.55 V. To satisfy such voltages, MFCs could be connected in
series for voltage-up; indeed, many researchers have been trying to
increase voltage by connecting MFCs in series. Aelterman et al.
(2006) demonstrated the possibility of boosting the voltage up to
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bios.2014.02.063
0956-5663/& 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
29
Hills, IL, USA). Each unit was operated under closed circuit mode at
a 10 external load until the voltage became stable (in ! 4 days)
in order to establish a viable microbial community in the anode
compartment.
2.3. Electrochemical analyses
After conrming the steady voltage output in the MFC, we
changed MFC operation to open circuit mode and conducted
discharging tests for each individual MFC unit (denoted as nonstacked units 1, 2, and 3). We varied the external loads toward
lower external resistance from 100 k to 1 k (e.g., 100 k,
40 k, 30 k, 20 k, 15 k, 10 k, 5 k, and 1 k) in order.
The discharging time for each load was 15 min, and the voltages
were monitored every 10 s using a multimeter (Keithley 2700,
Keithley Co., Cleveland, OH, USA). During the tests the voltage in
the non-stacked units was stabilized in 10 min at each external
load. When stabilized the voltage was collected at 30 points for
5 min to compute the current density and the power density using
jV/(RA) and P IV/A, respectively, where j is the current density
(mA/m2), V is the voltage (V) in individual units, R is the external
load applied to the units, A is the surface area (m2) of the anode
electrode, P is the power density (mW/m2) in the units, and I is the
current (mA) in the units. We averaged 30 points with standard
deviation. In the same manner, we then fully recharged the nonstacked units, converted the units to the stacked MFC mode, and
carried out discharging tests for the stacked MFC. To assess the
BEA performance in the stacked MFC, for comparison, discharging
tests were conducted by connecting non-stacked units in series
using electrical wires. We then extracted voltagecurrent density
(Vj) curves, and power densitycurrent density (Pj) curves were
obtained from the discharging experiments. The internal resistances of the non-stacked units (i.e., non-stacked mode) and the
stacked MFC (i.e., stacked mode) were subsequently analyzed to
assess factors affecting overvoltages in the stacked MFC. Next, the
internal resistances were estimated from the Nyquist plots
obtained via electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) spectra using AutoLab (Eco Chemie, Utrecht, The Netherlands), which
were combined with an impedance analyzer module (PGSTAT 30
with FRA-ADC, Eco Chemie, Utrecht, The Netherlands). EIS spectra
were measured over a frequency range of 100 kHz0.01 Hz under
alternating voltage conditions at the cathode in open circuit
potential, at a 710 mV amplitude in a two electrode conguration
(An et al., 2011). Then, EIS data were tted to an equivalent Randle
circuit model to estimate the charge transfer resistance (Rct) and
solution resistance (Rs) for the anode and the cathode of the
individual units.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Performance of stacked MFCs with BEA
Fig. 2 shows Vj and Pj curves obtained from the non-stacked
units and the stacked MFC. The OCVs of the non-stacked units
were 0.53 V, 0.51 V, and 0.53 V; the OCV of the stacked MFC triple
at 1.58 V. The maximum power density obtained from the stacked
MFC was 22.8 70.13 mW/m2 for 0.9467 0.003 V working voltage,
which is 2.5 times higher than the averaged maximum power
density of the individual MFC units (Fig. 2(A) and (B)). From these
results, we can see that the BEA structure is applicable to
membraneless MFCs for connection in series.
As the external resistance was lowered, the voltage of the
stacked MFC linearly decreased between the OCV and 15 k
condition. The magnitude of the voltage drop in the stacked MFC
was 0.774 70.004 V between the OCV and 15 k, which was
30
Fig. 1. Dimensions and architecture of membraneless MFC units; the series connection of the units (stacked MFC) using a bipolar plate-electrode assembly (BEA).
much larger than for the non-stacked MFCs (see Fig. 2(A)). This
overvoltage increase in the stacked MFC mode could probably be
due to an increase of Rct and Rs by stacking the MFCs (An et al.,
2011)the total internal resistance of a stacked MFC theoretically
increases as much as the sum of internal resistances in stacked
units (Pain, 1996).
To identify whether the overvoltage of 0.774 7 0.004 V
between the OCV and 15 k was caused by the increase of Rct
and Rs, Nyquist plots were obtained via EIS measurements
(Fig. 3). As expected, the anode Rct, cathode Rct, and Rs of the
stacked MFC were almost the same as the sum of the anode Rct,
cathode Rct, and Rs of the three non-stacked units (Table 1).
Among these values, the anode Rct in the stacked MFC was much
smaller than Rs and the cathode Rct; from these results, it was
identied that Rs and the cathode Rct in the stacked MFC were
the most critical resistancesaccounting for 96.8% (Rs: 47.9%,
cathode Rct: 48.9%) of the total internal resistance. Note that
Rs includes an electronic resistance (RE) and ionic resistance
(RI) (Rismani-Yazdi et al., 2008); hence, there could be two
possibilities for such a high Rs in the stacked MFC: (1) high RE
31
a main source of the overvoltage that occurs between the OCV and
15 k external resistance conditions. It should be noted that the
overvoltage (i.e., voltage-drop) by RI and cathode Rct is a part of the
entire overvoltage incurred throughout the 1001 k range in the
stacked MFC.
Fig. 2. (A) Vj curves obtained from non-stacked units 1, 2, 3, and the stacked MFC
using 100 k, 40 k, 30 k, 20 k, 15 k, 10 k, 5 k, and 1 k external loads and
(B): Pj curves obtained from non-stacked units 1, 2, 3, and the stacked MFC
with BEA.
Fig. 3. (A) Nyquist plots obtained from the non-stacked units 1, 2, 3, and (B) the
stacked MFC.
Fig. 4. Comparison of stacked MFC performances using BEA and Ptcopper wires.
Table 1
Internal resistance analyzed from Nyquist plots.
Internal resistance ()
Non-stacked unit 1
Non-stacked unit 2
Non-stacked unit 3
Non-stacked unit 1 2 3
Stacked MFC
Anode Rct
Cathode Rct
Rs
Sum
5.21 7 0.11
109.337 3.66
83.64 7 0.00
198.18 7 3.76
10.96 70.68
114.48 75.27
139.09 70.01
264.55 75.94
6.39 7 0.05
102.86 7 9.40
86.017 0.01
195.277 9.45
22.477 0.84
326.67718.33
308.747 0.02
658.007 19.15
20.46 70.26
310.00 711.78
303.46 70.01
633.93712.05
32
Fig. 5. Evolutions of voltage to external loads in stacked units and stacked MFC
obtained from discharging tests.
33
4. Conclusions
Our stacked MFC with BEA produced a maximum power
density of 22.8 70.13 mW/m2 for 0.94670.003 V working voltage,
which is 2.5 times higher than the averaged maximum power
density of the non-stacked MFC units. The power density of the
stacked MFC using BEA was comparable to the stacked MFC using
the wires. Hence, BEA architecture could be a potent alternative
for stacking membraneless single-chambered MFCs vertically.
The current in the stacked mode owed much faster than the
non-stacked mode until 10 k external load due to voltage
increase by series connection. For this reason, the poorest of the
stacked units quickly faced a signicant overvoltage at higher
external resistor, resulting in voltage reversal. Hence, to prevent
the high overvoltage and resulted voltage reversal, stacked MFC
units should have a relatively high current capacity. This could be
crucial and informative to modeling stacked MFCs.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by National Research Foundation
(NRF) (NRF-2013R1A2A2A03014551), the Pioneer Research Center
for Nano-Morphic Biology Energy Conversion and Storage (20090082812), and the Research Program for Agricultural Science &
Technology Development (Project nos. PJ008517 and PJ00851703
2013) of the Korean government.
34
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