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Published on: July 24, 2018
Simultaneous copper removal and electricity production and microbial community in microbial fuel cells with different
Yining Wu1, Ling Wang1, Min Jin1
1State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China.
Abstract:
With graphene oxide (GO), platinum carbon (Pt/C), and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) as cathode catalysts, three types of single-chamber microbial fuel cells (MFCs) were constructed for simultaneous Cu2+ removal and electricity production. Results indicated rGO-MFC and Pt/C-MFC had much better Cu2+-removing and electricity-generating performance than that of GO-MFC, and rGO-MFC presented preferable electrochemical characteristics compared with Pt/C-MFC. Microbial community analysis indicated Geobacter dominated anodic biofilms and was mainly responsible for organics degradation and electricity generation. The dual bio-selective effects by cathode catalyst and toxic Cu2+ resulted in different cathodic microbial communities. At high Cu2+ contents, Nitratireductor, Ochrobactrum, and Serratia as efficient Cu2+-removing genera played key roles in Pt/C-MFC, and Azoarcus predominant in cathodic biofilms of rGO-MFC might be important contributor for the favorable performance in this case.
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