Modified cobalt-manganese oxide-coated carbon felt anodes: an available method to improve the performance of microbial fuel cells

The novel MnCo2O4 (MCO/CF), CNTs-MnCo2O4 (CNTs-MCO/CF) and MnFe2O4-MnCo2O4 (MFO-MCO/CF) electrodes were prepared on carbon felt (CF) by simple hydrothermal and coating method as anodes for MFC. The modified anodes combine the electrocatalytic properties of transition metal oxides (TMOs), the high electrical conductivity of CNTs and the good biocompatibility of CF. These anodes play a synergistically role in the synthesis of structural, to realize high-efficiency electron transfer, low resistance and sufficient space for microbial colonization, while also ensuring high power density. The maximum power density of the composite electrodes CNTs-MCO/CF and MFO-MCO/CF were 4268 mW/m(3) and 3660 mW/m(3), respectively. The synergistic effect of multi-component effectively improves the performance of MFC. This work not only offers a good design and preparation concept for functional TMOs composite electrodes, but also provides an important guide for the fabrication of CNTs-doped MFC anodes.

Automated summary

The study demonstrates that the synergistic effect of multi-component composite electrodes improves the performance of MFC by optimizing structural synthesis, electron transfer efficiency, resistance reduction, and microbial colonization space provision.