TY - JOUR
T1 - Microbial fuel cell performance of graphitic carbon functionalized porous polysiloxane based ceramic membranes
AU - Ahilan, Vignesh
AU - de Barros, Camila Cabral
AU - Bhowmick, Gourav Dhar
AU - Ghangrekar, Makarand M.
AU - Murshed, M. Mangir
AU - Wilhelm, Michaela
AU - Rezwan, Kurosch
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2019/10/1
Y1 - 2019/10/1
N2 - Proton-conducting porous ceramic membranes were synthesized via a polymer-derived ceramic route and probed in a microbial fuel cell (MFC). Their chemical compositions were altered by adding carbon allotropes including graphene oxide (GO) and multiwall carbon nanotubes into a polysiloxane matrix as filler materials. Physical characteristics of the synthesized membranes such as porosity, hydrophilicity, mechanical stability, ion exchange capacity, and oxygen mass transfer coefficient were determined to investigate the best membrane material for further testing in MFCs. The ion exchange capacity of the membrane increased drastically after adding 0.5 wt% of GO at an increment of 9 fold with respect to that of the non-modified ceramic membrane, while the oxygen mass transfer coefficient of the membrane decreased by 52.6%. The MFC operated with this membrane exhibited a maximum power density of 7.23 W m−3 with a coulombic efficiency of 28.8%, which was significantly higher than the value obtained using polymeric Nafion membrane. Hence, out of all membranes tested in this study the GO-modified polysiloxane based ceramic membranes are found to have a potential to replace Nafion membranes in pilot scale MFCs.
AB - Proton-conducting porous ceramic membranes were synthesized via a polymer-derived ceramic route and probed in a microbial fuel cell (MFC). Their chemical compositions were altered by adding carbon allotropes including graphene oxide (GO) and multiwall carbon nanotubes into a polysiloxane matrix as filler materials. Physical characteristics of the synthesized membranes such as porosity, hydrophilicity, mechanical stability, ion exchange capacity, and oxygen mass transfer coefficient were determined to investigate the best membrane material for further testing in MFCs. The ion exchange capacity of the membrane increased drastically after adding 0.5 wt% of GO at an increment of 9 fold with respect to that of the non-modified ceramic membrane, while the oxygen mass transfer coefficient of the membrane decreased by 52.6%. The MFC operated with this membrane exhibited a maximum power density of 7.23 W m−3 with a coulombic efficiency of 28.8%, which was significantly higher than the value obtained using polymeric Nafion membrane. Hence, out of all membranes tested in this study the GO-modified polysiloxane based ceramic membranes are found to have a potential to replace Nafion membranes in pilot scale MFCs.
KW - Graphene oxide
KW - Microbial fuel cell
KW - Multiwall carbon nanotube
KW - Polymer derived ceramic
KW - Proton conducting membrane
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85067608487&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.bioelechem.2019.06.002
DO - 10.1016/j.bioelechem.2019.06.002
M3 - Article
C2 - 31247532
AN - SCOPUS:85067608487
SN - 1567-5394
VL - 129
SP - 259
EP - 269
JO - Bioelectrochemistry
JF - Bioelectrochemistry
ER -
