Towards disposable microbial fuel cells: atural rubber glove membranes
Towards disposable microbial fuel cells: atural rubber glove membranes
Natural rubber from laboratory gloves (GNR) was compared to cation exchange membrane (CEM) in microbial fuel cells (MFC). GNR-MFCs produced an immediate working voltage (50mV) indicating the availability of pathways for proton transfer. Their performance improved and power was 5 times higher after three weeks. Bi-directional polarisation experiments during this period showed a power increase (22%) for GNR-MFCs during the backward sweep compared to the forward, which is contrary to CEM-MFCs where power dropped by 42%. After 6 months, GNRMFCs produced 26% and 20% higher power than CEM-MFCs, when connected to 100Ohm and 1kOhm loads respectively, and reduced COD by 82% (1kOhm) and 88% (100Ohm) compared to 46% and 73% (CEM-MFCs). Under composting conditions, GNR samples degraded 100% after 268 days whilst GNR-MFC membranes were still intact and operational after a year. This innovative research could lead the way in producing inexpensive, disposable MFCs with controllable degradation.
Biodegradation, Microbial fuel cell, Natural rubber, Proton exchange membrane
35-36
Winfield, J.
e81f4fad-1433-4c6a-9723-24a14f172896
Chambers, L.
03b29ecc-9f87-487a-8586-682d42491a0c
Rossiter, J.
64caa0df-19e0-40c8-ab69-7021de665c39
Ieropoulos, I.
6c580270-3e08-430a-9f49-7fbe869daf13
2013
Winfield, J.
e81f4fad-1433-4c6a-9723-24a14f172896
Chambers, L.
03b29ecc-9f87-487a-8586-682d42491a0c
Rossiter, J.
64caa0df-19e0-40c8-ab69-7021de665c39
Ieropoulos, I.
6c580270-3e08-430a-9f49-7fbe869daf13
Winfield, J., Chambers, L., Rossiter, J. and Ieropoulos, I.
(2013)
Towards disposable microbial fuel cells: atural rubber glove membranes.
Cigolotti, Viviana, Barchiesi, Chiara and Chianella, Michela
(eds.)
In EFC 2013 - Proceedings of the 5th European Fuel Cell Piero Lunghi Conference.
ENEA.
.
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
Natural rubber from laboratory gloves (GNR) was compared to cation exchange membrane (CEM) in microbial fuel cells (MFC). GNR-MFCs produced an immediate working voltage (50mV) indicating the availability of pathways for proton transfer. Their performance improved and power was 5 times higher after three weeks. Bi-directional polarisation experiments during this period showed a power increase (22%) for GNR-MFCs during the backward sweep compared to the forward, which is contrary to CEM-MFCs where power dropped by 42%. After 6 months, GNRMFCs produced 26% and 20% higher power than CEM-MFCs, when connected to 100Ohm and 1kOhm loads respectively, and reduced COD by 82% (1kOhm) and 88% (100Ohm) compared to 46% and 73% (CEM-MFCs). Under composting conditions, GNR samples degraded 100% after 268 days whilst GNR-MFC membranes were still intact and operational after a year. This innovative research could lead the way in producing inexpensive, disposable MFCs with controllable degradation.
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Published date: 2013
Additional Information:
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2013 Delta Energy and Environment.
Copyright:
Copyright 2015 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Venue - Dates:
5th European Fuel Cell Piero Lunghi Conference and Exhibition, EFC 2013, , Rome, Italy, 2013-12-11 - 2013-12-13
Keywords:
Biodegradation, Microbial fuel cell, Natural rubber, Proton exchange membrane
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 454610
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/454610
PURE UUID: dae4edc6-2887-49cd-b068-d233579a373e
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Date deposited: 17 Feb 2022 17:36
Last modified: 18 Feb 2022 02:57
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Contributors
Author:
J. Winfield
Author:
L. Chambers
Author:
J. Rossiter
Editor:
Viviana Cigolotti
Editor:
Chiara Barchiesi
Editor:
Michela Chianella
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