Complete microbial fuel cell fabrication using additive layer manufacturing
Complete microbial fuel cell fabrication using additive layer manufacturing
Improving the efficiency of microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology by enhancing the system performance and reducing the production cost is essential for commercialisation. In this study, building an additive manufacturing (AM)-built MFC comprising all 3D printed components such as anode, cathode and chassis was attempted for the first time. 3D printed base structures were made of low-cost, biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) filaments. For both anode and cathode, two surface modification methods using either graphite or nickel powder were tested. The best performing anode material, carbon-coated non-conductive PLA filament, was comparable to the control modified carbon veil with a peak power of 376.7 μW (7.5 W m-3) in week 3. However, PLAbased AM cathodes underperformed regardless of the coating method, which limited the overall performance. The membrane-less design produced more stable and higher power output levels (520-570 μW, 7.4-8.1 W m-3) compared to the ceramic membrane control MFCs. As the final design, four AM-made membrane-less MFCs connected in series successfully powered a digital weather station, which shows the current status of low-cost 3D printed MFC development.
3D printing, Additive manufacturing, Carbon coating, Membrane-less MFC, Microbial fuel cell, Minimal surface-based structure, PLA filament
You, Jiseon
1442df08-0ea4-4134-b6be-6b773b05f58d
Fan, Hangbing
dfae5605-846d-454e-aaa5-274ffabeaa6a
Winfield, Jonathan
e81f4fad-1433-4c6a-9723-24a14f172896
Ieropoulo, Ioannis A.
6c580270-3e08-430a-9f49-7fbe869daf13
July 2020
You, Jiseon
1442df08-0ea4-4134-b6be-6b773b05f58d
Fan, Hangbing
dfae5605-846d-454e-aaa5-274ffabeaa6a
Winfield, Jonathan
e81f4fad-1433-4c6a-9723-24a14f172896
Ieropoulo, Ioannis A.
6c580270-3e08-430a-9f49-7fbe869daf13
You, Jiseon, Fan, Hangbing, Winfield, Jonathan and Ieropoulo, Ioannis A.
(2020)
Complete microbial fuel cell fabrication using additive layer manufacturing.
Molecules, 25 (13), [3051].
(doi:10.3390/molecules25133051).
Abstract
Improving the efficiency of microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology by enhancing the system performance and reducing the production cost is essential for commercialisation. In this study, building an additive manufacturing (AM)-built MFC comprising all 3D printed components such as anode, cathode and chassis was attempted for the first time. 3D printed base structures were made of low-cost, biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) filaments. For both anode and cathode, two surface modification methods using either graphite or nickel powder were tested. The best performing anode material, carbon-coated non-conductive PLA filament, was comparable to the control modified carbon veil with a peak power of 376.7 μW (7.5 W m-3) in week 3. However, PLAbased AM cathodes underperformed regardless of the coating method, which limited the overall performance. The membrane-less design produced more stable and higher power output levels (520-570 μW, 7.4-8.1 W m-3) compared to the ceramic membrane control MFCs. As the final design, four AM-made membrane-less MFCs connected in series successfully powered a digital weather station, which shows the current status of low-cost 3D printed MFC development.
Text
molecules-25-03051-v2
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More information
Published date: July 2020
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
Funding: This work stems from I.A.I.’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Career Acceleration Fellowship (grant numbers: EP/I004653/1, EP/L002132/1).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Keywords:
3D printing, Additive manufacturing, Carbon coating, Membrane-less MFC, Microbial fuel cell, Minimal surface-based structure, PLA filament
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 453983
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/453983
ISSN: 1420-3049
PURE UUID: ae60d0f8-027b-4215-890c-afb5f81ae659
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Date deposited: 27 Jan 2022 17:48
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:04
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Author:
Jiseon You
Author:
Hangbing Fan
Author:
Jonathan Winfield
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