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The Oxygen Paradox in Microbial Fuel Cells


Affiliations
1 Department of Biosciences, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prasanthi Nilayam, Puttaparthi 515 134, India
2 Department of Physics, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prasanthi Nilayam, Puttaparthi 515 134, India
3 Center for Advanced Sensor Technology, Department of Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland 21250, United States
 

Microbial fuel cells harness electrons from bacterial oxidation of substrates and have the potential to address two of the major sustainability issues that confront the globe - production of clean energy and wastewater treatment. Relentless multi-disciplinary efforts have opened up possibilities of enhancing efficiency of these systems in terms of performance and cost-effectiveness. Detailed studies on individual components provide fundamental insights for performance assessment. Oxygen, an integral component of bioelectrochemical systems, assumes contrasting inhibitory and supportive roles at the anode and cathode respectively.
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  • The Oxygen Paradox in Microbial Fuel Cells

Abstract Views: 274  |  PDF Views: 109

Authors

A. S. Vishwanathan
Department of Biosciences, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prasanthi Nilayam, Puttaparthi 515 134, India
S. Siva Sankara Sai
Department of Physics, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prasanthi Nilayam, Puttaparthi 515 134, India
Govind Rao
Center for Advanced Sensor Technology, Department of Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland 21250, United States

Abstract


Microbial fuel cells harness electrons from bacterial oxidation of substrates and have the potential to address two of the major sustainability issues that confront the globe - production of clean energy and wastewater treatment. Relentless multi-disciplinary efforts have opened up possibilities of enhancing efficiency of these systems in terms of performance and cost-effectiveness. Detailed studies on individual components provide fundamental insights for performance assessment. Oxygen, an integral component of bioelectrochemical systems, assumes contrasting inhibitory and supportive roles at the anode and cathode respectively.


DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv109%2Fi8%2F1390-1391