Polyaniline Modified Stainless Steel Fiber Felt for High-Performance Microbial Fuel Cell Anodes

Abstract

The three-dimensional (3D) macroporous anodes are constructed by coating polyaniline(PANI) on stainless steel fiber felts (SSFFs) that have an open, solid and macroporous structure. In the present study, nano-polyaniline is synthesized in two different methods by using chemical and electrochemical oxidative polymerization. These modified electrodes provide large surface area for reaction, interfacial transport and biocompatible interface available for bacterial colonization and substrate transport. The polarization curves together with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements demonstrate that polyaniline modified anodes could greatly improve MFCs' power output and decrease MFCs' internal resistance. Our experimental results also prove that embedding polyaniline into 3D macroporous metallic scaffold is a promising method for MFC anode fabrication. Index Terms-Microbial fuel cell, anode, polyaniline, stainless steel fiber felt, polymerization.