Approaches for Enhancing Wastewater Treatment of Photocatalytic Fuel Cells: A Review

Environmental pollution and energy crises have garnered global attention. The substantial discharge of organic waste into water bodies has led to profound environmental contamination. Photocatalytic fuel cells (PFCs) enabling the simultaneous removal of refractory contaminants and recovery of the chemical energy contained in organic pollutants provides a potential strategy to solve environmental issues and the energy crisis. This review will discuss the fundamentals, working principle, and configuration development of PFCs and photocatalytic microbial fuel cells (PMFCs). We particularly focus on the strategies for improving the wastewater treatment performance of PFCs/PMFCs in terms of coupled advanced oxidation processes, the rational design of high-efficiency electrodes, and the strengthening of the mass transfer process. The significant potential of PFCs/PMFCs in various fields is further discussed in detail. This review is intended to provide some guidance for the better implementation and widespread adoption of PFC wastewater treatment technologies.