Study of the effects of ionic liquid-modified cathodes and ceramic separators on MFC performance

•IL-modified cathodes improve the performance of ceramic MFCs.•[EMIM][Tf2N]-based MFCs offer 86% more power output compared with IL-free MFCs.•Optimal performance of ILs as part of the activated layer of the cathode. Ceramic-based MFC designs have proven to be a low cost alternative for power production and wastewater treatment. The use of ionic liquids in ceramic MFCs is explored for the first time in the present work in order to improve power output. The ionic liquid (IL) 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, [EMIM][Tf2N], has been selected for this purpose due to its advantageous properties. The performance of activated carbon cathodes using polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) binder and different carbon diffusion layers (DL) (controls) is compared with two types of ionic liquid-modified cathodes (test). This work continues to study the performance of terracotta separators modified with the same ionic liquid, neat and also mixed with PTFE. Whilst the results show operational limitations when the IL is integrated in the ceramic separator, there is a significant enhancement of the MFC performance when added as part of the activated layer mixture of the cathode, achieving up to 86.5% more power output in comparison with IL-free MFCs (from 229.78μW to 428.65μW). The addition of a layer of PTFE-mixed ionic liquid spread on the activated layer of the cathode also leads to an increase in power of approximately 37%.