Polymer separators for high-power, high-efficiency microbial fuel cells.

Guang Chen, Bin Wei, Yong Luo, Bruce E Logan, Michael A Hickner

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.

ACS applied materials & interfaces 2012 Dec

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Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) with hydrophilic poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) separators showed higher Coulombic efficiencies (94%) and power densities (1220 mW m(-2)) than cells with porous glass fiber separators or reactors without a separator after 32 days of operation. These remarkable increases in both the coublomic efficiency and the power production of the microbial fuel cells were made possible by the separator's unique characteristics of fouling mitigation of the air cathode without a large increase in ionic resistance in the cell. This new type of polymer gel-like separator design will be useful for improving MFC reactor performance by enabling compact cell designs.

Citation

Guang Chen, Bin Wei, Yong Luo, Bruce E Logan, Michael A Hickner. Polymer separators for high-power, high-efficiency microbial fuel cells. ACS applied materials & interfaces. 2012 Dec;4(12):6454-7