Tailoring hydrophilic and porous nature of polysiloxane derived ceramer and ceramic membranes for enhanced bioelectricity generation in microbial fuel cell

Selection of proton conducting membrane is currently a key factor that decides the performance of microbial fuel cell (MFC). Uniaxial pressed polysiloxane-derived ceramer and ceramic membrane with proton conducting fillers like montmorillonite and H₃PMo₁₂O₄₀/SiO₂ were applied for the first time as separator in MFC. Here, we present a series of polymer-derived ceramic membranes tailored based on pyrolysis temperature and filler addition, in which ion exchange capacity, cation transport number, and oxygen permeability are influenced through the hydrophilic and porous structural property. The maximum power density of MFC with polysiloxane-derived ceramer membrane modified with 20 wt% montmorillonite and 10 wt% H₃PMo₁₂O₄₀/SiO₂ reached a value of 5.66 W m⁻³, which was four times higher than that with non-modified polysiloxane-derived ceramer membrane. Furthermore, the specific power recovery per unit cost of the membrane was found to be 2-fold higher than MFC using polymeric Nafion membrane. In contrast, MFC with polysiloxane-derived ceramic membrane modified with 20 wt% montmorillonite delivers 1.2 times lower power density (4.20 W m⁻³) than that with non-modified macroporous polysiloxane-derived ceramic membrane. Hence, the findings demonstrated that tailoring the hydrophilic and porous structure of the ceramic membrane is a new and promising approach to enhance the performance of MFC. [Figure not available: see fulltext.].