One-step electrochemically synthesized graphene oxide coated on polypyrrole nanowires as anode for microbial fuel cell

A novel polypyrrole nanowires coated by graphene oxide (PPy-NWs/GO) has been successfully synthesized by one-step electrochemical method, whose structure was different from previously reported PPy/GO composites. The microbial fuel cell equipped with PPy-NWs/GO as anode was fabricated and compared with PPy-NWs ones. The SEM images show that the synthesized PPy-NWs/GO materials possess more surface areas than PPy-NWs. The electrochemical analysis indicated that PPy-NWs/GO anode had lower charge transfer resistance, which may be attributed to synergistic effect of them. The MFC equipped with PPy-NWs/GO anode have higher circle voltages and the power density is about 22.3 mW/m2, which is great higher than that of PPy-NWs about 15.9 mW/m2. These improvements of the MFCs may be due to more bacteria on the larger biofilms based on GO nanosheets, indicating that the PPy-NWs/GO is more effective anode for improving electricity generation.