Impact of polypyrrole/MXene modified anode on bioelectricity generation in microbial fuel cells

It has been recognized that microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a promising green technology. However, the low power output, mostly caused by poor anode performance, makes it hard to scale up this technology. Improving MFC performance using Titanium Carbide MXene as an anode material was a promising method due to large surface area and tunable chemical properties. The goal of this research was to observe the impact of polypyyrole/MXene composite anode on performance of MFC and its comparison with control anodes. Hydrofluoric acid etching approach was used to exfoliate MXene sheets, followed by in situ polymerization of pyrrole to develop a PPy/MXene composite. The microbial fuel cell fabricated with as prepared PPy/MXene@GF anode had the highest power density of 264 mWm(-2) and a maximum output voltage of 281 mV compared to MXene@GF (197 mWm(-2), 157 mV) and unmodified GF (45 mWm(-2), 101 mV). This improved performance can be attributed to the material's reduced charge transfer resistance resulting in increased electron transfer. This study has shown that the PPy/MXene composite possesses good potential as an anode in terms of MFC power generation.