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• Tsouris, C
• Hamilton, C
• Borole, A
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• Hamilton, C
• Borole, A
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• Tsouris, C
• Hamilton, C
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Energies 2010, 3(4), 592-606; doi:10.3390/en3040592

Article

Assessment of the Effects of Flow Rate and Ionic Strength on the Performance of an Air-Cathode Microbial Fuel Cell Using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy

Doug Aaron ¹ , Costas Tsouris ^1,2 , Choo Y. Hamilton ³  and Abhijeet P. Borole ^4,*

¹ School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA ² Nuclear Sciences and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA ³ The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA ⁴ BioSciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 5 January 2010; in revised form: 27 February 2010 / Accepted: 15 March 2010 / Published: 26 March 2010

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fuel Cells)

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Abstract: Impedance changes of the anode, cathode and solution were examined for an air-cathode microbial fuel cell (MFC) under varying conditions. An MFC inoculated with a pre-enriched microbial culture resulted in a startup time of less than ten days. Over this period, the anode impedance decreased below the cathode impedance, suggesting a cathode-limited power output. Increasing the anode flow rate did not impact the anode impedance significantly, but it decreased the cathode impedance by 65%. Increasing the anode-medium ionic strength also decreased the cathode impedance. These impedance results provide insight into electron and proton transport mechanisms and can be used to improve MFC performance.

Keywords: biofuel cell; internal resistances; electrogenic; anode impedance; capacitance

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