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Electrochemical evaluation of Ti/TiO₂-polyaniline Anodes for Microbial Fuel Cells using Hypersaline Microbial Consortia for Synthetic-wastewater Treatment

Pages: 1-6

Xochitl D. Benetton^1,*, S.G. Navarro-Ávila¹, C. Carrera-Figueiras²

Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Facultad de Ingeniería Química
¹Biotecnología y Bioingeniería,
²Química Fundamental y Aplicada
Campus de Ingenieria y Ciencias Exactas, Periférico Norte Kilómetro 33.5, Tablaje Catastral 13615, Col. Chuburná de Hidalgo Inn, CP 97203, Mérida, Yucatán, México.

Received: July 29, 2009, Accepted: August 4, 2009

Abstract:
A Ti/TiO2-polyaniline (PAni) composite electrode was developed and explored with electrochemical methods. The results of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) demonstrate that under abiotic conditions the cathode is the limiting component of the electrochemical cell for the occurrence of the charge-transfer reactions. In contrast, when the Ti/TiO2-PAni composite is working as anode in the microbial fuel cells (MFCs) studied, the controlling electrochemical processes occur at the anode. The higher power densities, 2317
mW/m², were obtained with a pure culture of Geobacter sulfurreducens, and significant power density was obtained with an uncharacterized consortium, 1137 mW/m². The results showed that the Ti/TiO2-PAni anode is a suitable material to be optimized for developing highpower MFCs with G. sulfurreducens for wastewater treatment.

Keywords:
microbial fuel cell (MFC), polyaniline (PAni), impedance spectroscopy (EIS), Geobacter sulfurreducens