Development of a High-Performance Mediatorless Microbial Fuel Cell Comprising a Catalytic Steel Anode

The present paper reports for the first time the construction of a sugar cane bagasse-mediated double-chambered microbial fuel cell (MFC), consisting of a novel bioanode of an iron/titanium Ni–P composite. This anode could facilitate uninterrupted extracellular electron transfer (EET) from bacteria (mixed culture). The Ni–P composite anode had a significant corrosion resistance and enhanced electrocatalytic activity. The corrosion rate was reduced to 0.187 mmpy, which was 3 times less than that of the noncomposite anode. A steady decrease in internal resistance from 3.84 × 103 Ω to 2.94 × 102 Ω was achieved with the incorporation of the iron/titanium-based composite on the anode surface. The presence of Fe (III) ion centers in the composite surface favored electroactive biofilm formation and enhanced the capacitive nature of the anode, thereby accelerating EET. The constructed MFC showed an internal resistance as low as 1.12 × 10–2 Ω in comparison with the control MFC. This led to a very high power density of ∼2.1 W/m2, which was 20% higher than that of the control MFC, while a stacked MFC obtained a maximum open-circuit potential of 3.2 V with power density and current density outputs of 6.3 W/m2 and 2.7 mA/m2, respectively. Even though an extensive amount of literature is available in this field, this report is the first of its kind because it includes such a simple reproducible system that can be extended to other similar systems.