Journal of Fundamentals of Renewable Energy and Applications
Open Access

Electrodic capacitance and its influence on performance of microbial fuel cells - electrochemical impedance studies

2^nd International Conference on Battery and Fuel Cell Technology

July 27-28, 2017 | Rome, Italy

S Harinipriya, M Sindhuja, V Sudha and Meenu Chhabra

SRM University, India
Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur, India

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Fundam Renewable Energy Appl

Abstract :

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy is employed to understand the role of biological capacitance and individual component resistance in the bioelectricity generation throughout the life time of the microbial fuel cells. Gram stain analysis and optical microscopy supported the predominant growth of rod shaped Geobacter culture in sweet lime based microbial fuel cells. The anodic capacitance during initial bacterial growth (1-9 days) is 6 times higher than the literature data. The anodic capacitance decreased to 0.52 mF on day 24 and anodic polarization resistance increased to 913.8�?© due to fungal formation. The power density calculated on day 24 being 497.1 mW/m2, which is approximately three times higher than the literature data. These results demonstrate that (i) Geobacter culture is more efficient in bioelectricity generation than Shewanella based biofilm in microbial fuel cells and (ii) the biological capacitance of electrodes plays an important role in the power generation of microbial fuel cells.