A mini review of the effect of modified carbon paper, carbon felt, and carbon cloth electrodes on the performance of microbial fuel cell

ABSTRACTABSTRACTMicrobial fuel cells (MFCs) have attracted much interest as an alternative energy conversion technology and as a system for recovering and treating wastewater. MFC is a powerful technique for generating energy from various sources, including natural organic matter and renewable biomass. It has several possible applications, including power generation for many small electronic devices, wastewater treatment, and biosensors. However, the restricted power output of MFCs is the most significant impediment to their widespread use and up-scaling in practical applications. The anode electrode is the most critical component of an MFC, where poor anode electrode performance leads to poor MFC efficiency. Therefore, efforts have been made to modify electrodes to improve their performance. While power density is an essential metric in determining MFC efficiency, other parameters such as Coulombic efficiency, current density, cell voltage, and the removal rate of chemical oxygen demand (COD) should also be considered to evaluate the performance of MFC. This study reviews the most recent electrode modification techniques through anode treatments with metal oxides, conductive polymers, carbon nanotubes, and other chemical compounds as well as through cathode modifications. Different modified MFCs are compared in terms of their power density and the type of bacteria and membrane used.KEYWORDS: Microbial fuel cellelectrode modificationanode modificationcathode catalystcathode modificationbioelectricitybioenergy AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to acknowledge and thank the funder for this research work, JABATAN PENDIDIKAN TINGGI KEMENTERIAN PENGAJIAN TINGGI MALAYSIA, for the FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH GRANT SCHEME (FRGS) funding with Application ID: 359034-388543 and Reference Code: FRGS/1/2020/TK0/MMU/03/9.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThe work was supported by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education through the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme under Grant. [FRGS/1/2020/TK0/MMU/03/9]