空气阴极微生物燃料电池研究进展

微生物燃料电池（MFC）是一种利用微生物做催化剂,处理废水的同时能产电的新型污水处理技术,因其＂变废为宝＂的能力而得到快速的发展。其中,以空气做阴极的单室MFC,因其省却了不断添加阴极液的过程、提高功率输出的同时降低成本而受到越来越多的关注。单室MFC装置可以分为管状、立方体状和短臂型结构,空气阴极的结构组成包括膜、催化层、集电材料、基层和扩散层。膜和催化层通常用热压法进行结合。目前报道的研究结果表明,有扩散层时获得的功率密度更高。已研究的扩散层的粘结剂有PTEF、PDMS、EF以及Nafion。选择合适的构型、催化剂以及扩散层的层数和粘结剂对改善电池产电性能极为重要。如何将多个装置串联以扩大废水处理量、提高功率密度的同时提高电子回收率是需要进一步解决的问题。

Research Progress in Air-cathode Microbial Fuel Cells

The microbial fuel cell（MFC） which can generate electricity from biomass by using bacteria as catalyst has drawn increasing attention as a promising technology for wastewater treatment. Because of the ability to make waste profitable, it has got rapid development recently. Single chamber air-cathode using oxygen as electron acceptor has been receiving more and more attention because it can be continuously operated without adding catholyte to increase the out power and reduce the cost. Single-chamber MFC can divided into tubular, cubic and short-armed MFC; the structure of air-cathode concludes separator, the catalyst layer, the current-collector material, the base layer and the diffusion layer, the separator is commonly combined with the catalyst layer by the way of thermocompression. Higher power density can be obtained if the diffusion layers are existed. The adhesives of diffusion layer can be PTEF, PDMS, EF or Nafion which have been reported. It is extremely important to select appropriate configuration, catalyst, number of coatings and binder of the diffusion layer for improving the electrical-production properties of MFC. How to link individual reactors to enlarge wastewater treatment capacity for improving the power density and increasing electron recovery is the problem to be resolved further.