Electricity generation in a microbial fuel cell with a microbially catalyzed cathode
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Updated: Jul 4, 2026

Self-standing Electrochemical Set-up to Enrich Anode-respiring Bacteria On-site
Published on: July 24, 2018
Jin-Na Zhang1, Qing-Liang Zhao, Peter Aelterman
1State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resources and Environments (SKLUWRE), School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, Peoples' Republic of China.
Abstract:
A microbial fuel cell using aerobic microorganisms as the cathodic catalysts is described. By using anaerobic sludge in the anode and aerobic sludge in the cathode as inocula, the microbial fuel cell could be started up after a short lag time of 9 days, generating a stable voltage of 0.324 V (R (ex) = 500 Omega). At an aeration rate of 300 ml min(-1) in the cathode, a maximum volumetric power density of up to 24.7 W m(-3) (117.2 A m(-3)) was reached. This research demonstrates an economic system for recovering electrical energy from organic compounds.
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