Modification of electrodes material in a microbial fuel cell (MFC) to enhance the electricity production

The microbial fuel cell is a bioreactor that utilizes electroactive bacteria to manage pollutant levels in wastewater while simultaneously generating electricity. This technology has a very bright opportunity to develop and maximize its potential. Modification of activated carbon cloth (ACC) and carbon graphite electrode (GCE) with polyaniline (PANI) was carried out to improve the conductivity and biocompatibility properties of GCE and ACC. The modification was carried out by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) to coat the GCE and ACC surfaces with PANI. Characterization was carried out using FT-IR, FESEM, BET, and electrochemical analysis using cyclic voltammetry. The characterization results showed the presence of a porous structure on the electrode surface with an average particle size of 344,790.93 Å and 263.49 Å for GCE-PANI and ACC-PANI, respectively. The PANI structure was identified by the presence of a distinctive functional group, namely benzenoid (N–B–N) in the wave number region of around 1479 cm−1 and the quinoid group (N=Q=N) in the wave number region of approximately 1557 cm−1. The results of the MFC operation gave the best results on the system with ferricyanide as the electron acceptor. The highest power density produced is 2.54 × 10−5 W cm−2 with a potential of 612.81 mV from MFC GCE-PANI and 1.65 × 10−8 W cm−2 with a potential of 155.95 mV from MFC ACC-PANI. The normalized energy recovery of MFC GCE-PANI and ACC-PANI in ferricyanide is 0.115 kWh kgCOD−1 and 5.67 × 10−3 kWh kgCOD−1, respectively. The efficiency level of reducing COD levels reached 88.8% for MFC GCE-PANI and 87.2% for ACC-PANI.