Fabrication and characterization of high power dual chamber E. coli microbial fuel cell

Abstract

This work reports the fabrication of a dual chamber microbial fuel cell with E. coli modified graphite as the anode and lead dioxide cathode. At the optimized operating conditions, the cell provided 778 mV open circuit potential, 3.47 mA m-2 of current density and 1660 mW m-2 power density. Morphology of the of E. coli biofilm on the electrode was analysed using AFM and the electrochemical characterization of the fuel cell was carried out using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and polarization curves. The composition of the anode and the time duration for E. coli biofilm formation were varied to obtain maximum power density. The MFC fabricated in this study was found to have improved power density in comparison with other reported fuel cells.