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A freestanding carbon submicro fiber sponge as high-efficient bioelectrochemical anode for wastewater energy recovery and treatment

Author

Listed:
  • Xu, Ting
  • Song, Jianan
  • Lin, Weichen
  • Fu, Boya
  • Guo, Xingguo
  • Huang, Xia
  • Wu, Hui
  • Zhang, Xiaoyuan

Abstract

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs), as a typical kind of microbial electrochemical technologies (METs), can achieve energy recovery and wastewater treatment. Microbial adhesion on electrodes directly affects microbe-electrode interactions, determining the performance of electricity generation and organic degradation. The anode with suitable structure and operation mode can reduce the limitation of fiber diameter-structure-interface trade-off to enhance microbe-electrode interaction. Here, we fabricated a carbon submicro fiber sponge with fiber diameter close to the size of electrogenic microorganism and operated it in filtration mode to greatly improve energy conversion. The carbon submicro fiber sponge exhibits a superior current yield of 17.4 A m−2 in the polarization curve with high electrochemical activity in MFC, which is 74% higher than that of the commonly used carbon fiber cloth anode. A higher chemical oxygen demand removal rate of 2.9 kg m−3 d−1 is obtained with this novel anode (1.3-fold that of the benchmark). The linkage mechanism of electricity generation and organic degradation is analyzed. Moreover, a long-term stability is demonstrated with excellent current production after the operation over 2 years. Our results indicate that this carbon fiber sponge has remarkable application potential in microbial electrochemical technologies for energy recovery from wastewater.

Suggested Citation

  • Xu, Ting & Song, Jianan & Lin, Weichen & Fu, Boya & Guo, Xingguo & Huang, Xia & Wu, Hui & Zhang, Xiaoyuan, 2021. "A freestanding carbon submicro fiber sponge as high-efficient bioelectrochemical anode for wastewater energy recovery and treatment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:281:y:2021:i:c:s0306261920313763
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115913
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Chenhui Yang & Hüsnü Aslan & Peng Zhang & Shoujun Zhu & Yong Xiao & Lixiang Chen & Nasar Khan & Thomas Boesen & Yuanlin Wang & Yang Liu & Lei Wang & Ye Sun & Yujie Feng & Flemming Besenbacher & Feng Z, 2020. "Carbon dots-fed Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 for bioelectricity enhancement," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, December.
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    1. Golzar, Farzin & Silveira, Semida, 2021. "Impact of wastewater heat recovery in buildings on the performance of centralized energy recovery – A case study of Stockholm," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 297(C).

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