Electrospun carbon fibers for microbial fuel cells: A novel bioanode design applied to wastewater treatment

Electrospun carbon nanofibers (CNFs) are explored as a potential electrode material for bioanodes due to the advantages of a high specific surface area (surface area per volume), a good conductivity and an architecture and surface adapted to the electroactive bacteria colonization. These electrodes are colonized by exoelectrogenic strains - either the model bacterium Shewanella oneidensis or a wastewater occurring bacterial consortium and are then integrated into a lab-scaled setup. Its electricity output is then screened using a synthetic anolyte or actual wastewaters as a fuel. Overall, electrospun carbon bioanode-based MFCs using a lactate-based synthetic anolyte and a potassium ferricyanide catholyte exhibited significantly better performances (221 W.m(-3) & 0.95.10(3) A.m(-3)) than their counterpart made of commercial control carbon felt. Moreover, this bioanode design was successfully used to produce electrical power from a wastewater anolyte (438 W.m(-3) & 4.4 .10(3) A.m(-3)). These performances were reached even without any further bioreactor internal resistance optimization, demonstrating their promising application for wastewater-based electricity generation. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.