CARBON NANOTUBES AND CARBONIZED POLYANILINE NANOSTRUCTURES AS 3D MODIFIED ANODE FOR MICROBIAL FUEL CELLS

This paper presents an approach of improving power generation of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) by using three dimensional (3D) anodes modified with commercial carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and nitrogen-containing carbon nanostructures derived from polyaniline (PANI) precursors. The materials used for anode modification were characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman Spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The power output, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) of two-chamber MFCs with 3D modified anodes were compared. Results showed that the maximum power density of 3D anodes modified with nitrogen-containing carbon nanostructures could reach 17.8 mW/cm(2) compared with MFC anode modified with commercial CNTs. The inflow and outflow wastewater analysis show that both MFCs units lead to an improvement of wastewater quality with a better performance for the MFCs using 3D anode modified with nitrogen-containing carbon nanostructures.