Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin-Si, Republic of Korea.
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, 721302, India.
Biotechnol Adv. 2019 Dec;37(8):107420. doi: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2019.107420. Epub 2019 Jul 22.
The occurrence of biofouling in MFC can cause severe problems such as hindering proton transfer and increasing the ohmic and charge transfer resistance of cathodes, which results in a rapid decline in performance of MFC. This is one of the main reasons why scaling-up of MFCs has not yet been successfully accomplished. The present review article is a wide-ranging attempt to provide insights to the biofouling mechanisms on surfaces of MFC, mainly on proton exchange membranes and cathodes, and their effects on performance of MFC based on theoretical and practical evidence. Various biofouling mitigation techniques for membranes are discussed, including preparation of antifouling composite membranes, modification of the physical and chemical properties of existing membranes, and coating with antifouling agents. For cathodes of MFC, use of Ag nanoparticles, Ag-based composite nanoparticles, and antifouling chemicals is outlined in considerable detail. Finally, prospective techniques for mitigation of biofouling are discussed, which have not been given much previous attention in the field of MFC research. This article will help to enhance understanding of the severity of biofouling issues in MFCs and provides up-to-date solutions. It will be beneficial for scientific communities for further strengthening MFC research and will also help in progressing this cutting-edge technology to scale-up, using the most efficient methods as described here.
生物污垢在 MFC 中的出现会导致严重问题，例如阻碍质子传递和增加阴极的欧姆和电荷转移电阻，从而导致 MFC 性能迅速下降。这是 MFC 尚未成功放大的主要原因之一。本综述文章广泛尝试根据理论和实践证据，提供对 MFC 表面（主要是质子交换膜和阴极）上生物污垢机制及其对 MFC 性能影响的深入了解。讨论了各种用于膜的生物污垢缓解技术，包括制备抗生物污垢复合膜、改变现有膜的物理和化学性质以及涂覆抗生物污垢剂。对于 MFC 的阴极，详细概述了使用 Ag 纳米颗粒、Ag 基复合纳米颗粒和抗生物污垢化学品。最后，讨论了生物污垢缓解的有前景的技术，这些技术在 MFC 研究领域以前没有得到太多关注。本文将有助于增强对 MFC 中生物污垢问题严重性的理解，并提供最新的解决方案。它将有助于科学界进一步加强 MFC 研究，并通过这里描述的最有效的方法帮助将这项前沿技术推向规模化。
