Power Density Enhancement of Anion-Exchange Membrane-Installed Microbial Fuel Cell Under Bicarbonate-Buffered Cathode Condition

Abstract

We introduce a high-performance microbial fuel cell (MFC) that was operated using a 0.1 M bicarbonate buffer as the cathodic electrolyte. The MFC had a 136.42 mW/m(2) maximum power density under continuous feeding of 5 mM acetate as fuel. Results of the electrode potential measurements showed that the cathode potential of the bicarbonate-buffered condition was higher than the phosphate-buffered condition, although the phosphate condition had less interfacial resistance between the membrane and electrolyte. Therefore, we posit here that the increased power of the bicarbonate-buffered MFC may be caused by the higher cathode potential rather than by the interfacial membrane-electrolyte resistance.