Nanoparticle decorated anodes for enhanced current generation in microbial electrochemical cells.

The development of highly efficient anode materials is critical for enhancing the current output of microbial electrochemical cells. In this study, Au and Pd nanoparticle decorated graphite anodes were developed and evaluated in a newly designed multi-anode microbial electrolysis cell (MEC). The anodes decorated with Au nanoparticles produced current densities up to 20-fold higher than plain graphite anodes by Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, while those of Pd-decorated anodes with similar morphologies produced 50-150% higher than the control. Significant positive linear regression was obtained between the current density and the particle size (average Feret's diameter and average area), while the circularity of the particles showed negative correlation with current densities. On the contrary, no significant correlation was evident between the current density and the particle density based on area fraction and particle counts. These results demonstrated that nano-decoration can greatly enhance the performance of microbial anodes, while the chemical composition, size and shape of the nanoparticles determined the extent of the enhancement.

[1]  Hong Liu,et al.  Electrochemically assisted microbial production of hydrogen from acetate. , 2005, Environmental science & technology.

[2]  Y. Zuo,et al.  Electricity generation by Rhodopseudomonas palustris DX-1. , 2008, Environmental science & technology.

[3]  Zhiyong Ren,et al.  Electricity production from cellulose in a microbial fuel cell using a defined binary culture. , 2007, Environmental science & technology.

[4]  C. Nastase,et al.  The biocompatibility microorganisms‐carbon nanostructures for applications in microbial fuel cells , 2007 .

[5]  B. Logan.  Exoelectrogenic bacteria that power microbial fuel cells , 2009, Nature Reviews Microbiology.

[6]  Lixian Sun,et al.  A mediatorless microbial fuel cell using polypyrrole coated carbon nanotubes composite as anode material , 2008 .

[7]  Peng Wang,et al.  The influence of nano-sized TiO2 fillers on the morphologies and properties of PSF UF membrane , 2007 .

[8]  Francesco Stellacci,et al.  Effect of surface properties on nanoparticle-cell interactions. , 2010, Small.

[9]  Byoung-Chan Kim,et al.  Selection of a variant of Geobacter sulfurreducens with enhanced capacity for current production in microbial fuel cells. , 2009, Biosensors & bioelectronics.

[10]  Zi-rong Xu,et al.  Preparation and antibacterial activity of chitosan nanoparticles. , 2004, Carbohydrate research.

[11]  D. Park,et al.  Improved fuel cell and electrode designs for producing electricity from microbial degradation. , 2003, Biotechnology and bioengineering.

[12]  Fiona Regan,et al.  The use of nanoparticles in anti-microbial materials and their characterization. , 2008, The Analyst.

[13]  Bruce E Logan,et al.  Microbial electrolysis cells for high yield hydrogen gas production from organic matter. , 2008, Environmental science & technology.

[14]  Milan Kolar,et al.  Silver colloid nanoparticles: synthesis, characterization, and their antibacterial activity. , 2006, The journal of physical chemistry. B.

[15]  Hong Liu,et al.  Electricity generation using an air-cathode single chamber microbial fuel cell in the presence and absence of a proton exchange membrane. , 2004, Environmental science & technology.

[16]  M. Yacamán,et al.  The bactericidal effect of silver nanoparticles , 2005, Nanotechnology.

[17]  C. Myers,et al.  Localization of cytochromes to the outer membrane of anaerobically grown Shewanella putrefaciens MR-1 , 1992, Journal of bacteriology.

[18]  W. Verstraete,et al.  Microbial fuel cells: novel biotechnology for energy generation. , 2005, Trends in biotechnology.

[19]  Hung-Yin Tsai,et al.  Microbial fuel cell performance of multiwall carbon nanotubes on carbon cloth as electrodes , 2009 .

[20]  Alice Dohnalkova,et al.  Electrically conductive bacterial nanowires produced by Shewanella oneidensis strain MR-1 and other microorganisms. , 2006, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[21]  J. J. Sumner,et al.  Mediating electron transfer from bacteria to a gold electrode via a self-assembled monolayer. , 2006, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[22]  B. Logan,et al.  Electricity-producing bacterial communities in microbial fuel cells. , 2006, Trends in microbiology.

[23]  Bruce E. Logan,et al.  AMMONIA TREATMENT OF CARBON CLOTH ANODES TO ENHANCE POWER GENERATION OF MICROBIAL FUEL CELLS , 2007 .

[24]  Anna Obraztsova,et al.  Current Production and Metal Oxide Reduction by Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 Wild Type and Mutants , 2007, Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

[25]  Jorge Boczkowski,et al.  What's new in Nanotoxicology? Brief review of the 2007 literature , 2008 .

[26]  Derek R. Lovley,et al.  Bug juice: harvesting electricity with microorganisms , 2006, Nature Reviews Microbiology.

[27]  M. Grivet,et al.  Effect of hydrophobicity on in vitro streptococcal adhesion to dental alloys , 2000, Journal of materials science. Materials in medicine.

[28]  Yatao Liu,et al.  Microscale correlation between surface chemistry, texture, and the adhesive strength of Staphylococcus epidermidis. , 2006, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[29]  J. Song,et al.  Does the Antibacterial Activity of Silver Nanoparticles Depend on the Shape of the Nanoparticle? A Study of the Gram-Negative Bacterium Escherichia coli , 2007, Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

[30]  Uwe Schröder,et al.  Fluorinated polyanilines as superior materials for electrocatalytic anodes in bacterial fuel cells , 2004 .

[31]  S. Ghosh,et al.  Green fluorescent protein-expressing Escherichia coli as a model system for investigating the antimicrobial activities of silver nanoparticles. , 2006, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[32]  Sundara Ramaprabhu,et al.  Development of carbon nanotubes and nanofluids based microbial fuel cell , 2008 .

[33]  C. M. Li,et al.  Carbon nanotube/polyaniline composite as anode material for microbial fuel cells , 2007 .

[34]  T. Mehta,et al.  Extracellular electron transfer via microbial nanowires , 2005, Nature.

[35]  Tao Yu,et al.  An MEC-MFC-coupled system for biohydrogen production from acetate. , 2008, Environmental science & technology.