TY - GEN
T1 - Carbon nanotube based anodes in a miniaturized microbial fuel cell (MFC) towards high power density and efficiency
AU - Ren, Hao
AU - Chae, Junseok
AU - Pyo, Soonjae
AU - Lee, Jae Ik
AU - Kim, Jongbaeg
AU - Gittleson, Forrest S.
AU - Andre, D.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have unique physical / chemical properties including a high surface-area-to-volume ratio, high electrical/thermal conductivity, excellent electrochemical characteristics, and mechanical and chemical stability. This work utilizes CNTs in miniaturized microbial fuel cells (MFCs) to reduce the high internal resistance, one of the significant bottlenecks to improving the power density of the MFC. Three types of CNT electrodes, VACNT (Vertically Aligned Carbon Nano-Tube), RACNT (Randomly Aligned Carbon Nano-Tube), and LBL (Layer-By-Layer) CNT, were evaluated as anodes for miniaturized MFCs, demonstrating biocompatibility, high power density and efficiency. Areal and volumetric power densities of 113 μW/cm2 and 4.52 mW/cm3, respectively, are presented; the highest ever reported among all miniaturized MFCs with CNT anodes to date more than 11.5 times the previous record. Additionally, a coulombic efficiency (CE) of 60%-80% is achieved, significantly higher than existing miniaturized MFCs. High power density and CE may support the miniaturized MFC as a strong candidate in sub-100 μW applications.
AB - Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have unique physical / chemical properties including a high surface-area-to-volume ratio, high electrical/thermal conductivity, excellent electrochemical characteristics, and mechanical and chemical stability. This work utilizes CNTs in miniaturized microbial fuel cells (MFCs) to reduce the high internal resistance, one of the significant bottlenecks to improving the power density of the MFC. Three types of CNT electrodes, VACNT (Vertically Aligned Carbon Nano-Tube), RACNT (Randomly Aligned Carbon Nano-Tube), and LBL (Layer-By-Layer) CNT, were evaluated as anodes for miniaturized MFCs, demonstrating biocompatibility, high power density and efficiency. Areal and volumetric power densities of 113 μW/cm2 and 4.52 mW/cm3, respectively, are presented; the highest ever reported among all miniaturized MFCs with CNT anodes to date more than 11.5 times the previous record. Additionally, a coulombic efficiency (CE) of 60%-80% is achieved, significantly higher than existing miniaturized MFCs. High power density and CE may support the miniaturized MFC as a strong candidate in sub-100 μW applications.
KW - Biocompatibility
KW - Carbon nanotube (CNT)
KW - Coulombic efficiency (CE)
KW - Internal resistance
KW - Miniaturized Microbial fuel cell (MFC)
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84880199545&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84880199545&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/NANOMED.2012.6509130
DO - 10.1109/NANOMED.2012.6509130
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84880199545
SN - 9781467351027
T3 - IEEE International Conference on Nano/Molecular Medicine and Engineering, NANOMED
SP - 15
EP - 20
BT - NANOMED 2012 - 6th IEEE International Conference on Nano/Molecular Medicine and Engineering
T2 - 6th IEEE International Conference on Nano/Molecular Medicine and Engineering, NANOMED 2012
Y2 - 4 November 2012 through 7 November 2012
ER -