Electrochemical deposition of MWCNT-MnO2/PPy nano-composite application for microbial fuel cells

In this study, we reported the nano-composite of multiwalled carbon nanotubes-manganese oxide/polypyrrole (MWCNT-MnO2/PPy) was used as anode in microbial fuel cell (MFC) for sewage waste water treatment and power generation. The nano-composite of MWCNT-MnO2/PPy was electrochemically deposited on the surface of carbon cloth (CC) electrode. The modified electrodes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The electrochemical properties of the electrode have been investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The MWCNT-MnO2/PPy electrode showed good electrical conductivity of 0.1185 S m(-1). This was also supported by band gap measurement value 0.8 eV. The MWCNT-MnO2/PPy based MFC obtained maximum power density of 1125.4 mW m(-2). The CC modified MWCNT-MnO2/PPy nano-composite electrodes have a high potential and good biocompatibility that showed a great realized mediator less MFCs for bio-electricity production from sewage waste water. (C) 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.