Bensalah Fatma, Pézard Julien, Haddour Naoufel, Erouel Mohsen, Buret François, Khirouni Kamel
Laboratoire Ampère, Ecole Centrale de Lyon, 36 Avenue Guy de Collongue, 69134 Ecully, France.
Laboratory of Physics of Materials and Nanomaterials Applied at Environment, Faculty of Sciences in Gabes, Gabes University, Gabes 6072, Tunisia.
Nanomaterials (Basel). 2021 Nov 21;11(11):3144. doi: 10.3390/nano11113144.
The development of high-performance anode materials is one of the greatest challenges for the practical implementation of Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) technology. Copper (Cu) has a much higher electrical conductivity than carbon-based materials usually used as anodes in MFCs. However, it is an unsuitable anode material, in raw state, for MFC application due to its corrosion and its toxicity to microorganisms. In this paper, we report the development of a Cu anode material coated with a corrosion-resistant composite made of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) doped with carbon nanofiber (CNF). The surface modification method was optimized for improving the interfacial electron transfer of Cu anodes for use in MFCs. Characterization of CNF-PDMS composites doped at different weight ratios demonstrated that the best electrical conductivity and electrochemical properties are obtained at 8% weight ratio of CNF/PDMS mixture. Electrochemical characterization showed that the corrosion rate of Cu electrode in acidified solution decreased from (17 ± 6) × 10 μm y to 93 ± 23 μm y after CNF-PDMS coating. The performance of Cu anodes coated with different layer thicknesses of CNF-PDMS (250 µm, 500 µm, and 1000 µm), was evaluated in MFC. The highest power density of 70 ± 8 mW m obtained with 500 µm CNF-PDMS was about 8-times higher and more stable than that obtained through galvanic corrosion of unmodified Cu. Consequently, the followed process improves the performance of Cu anode for MFC applications.
开发高性能阳极材料是微生物燃料电池（MFC）技术实际应用面临的最大挑战之一。铜（Cu）的电导率比通常用作MFC阳极的碳基材料高得多。然而，由于其腐蚀性和对微生物的毒性，原始状态的铜是不适合用于MFC的阳极材料。在本文中，我们报道了一种涂覆有由掺杂碳纳米纤维（CNF）的聚二甲基硅氧烷（PDMS）制成的耐腐蚀复合材料的铜阳极材料的开发。对表面改性方法进行了优化，以改善用于MFC的铜阳极的界面电子转移。对不同重量比掺杂的CNF-PDMS复合材料的表征表明，在CNF/PDMS混合物重量比为8%时可获得最佳的电导率和电化学性能。电化学表征表明，CNF-PDMS涂层后，铜电极在酸化溶液中的腐蚀速率从（17±6）×10 µm/y降至93±23 µm/y。在MFC中评估了涂覆有不同厚度（250 µm、500 µm和1000 µm）的CNF-PDMS的铜阳极的性能。使用500 µm CNF-PDMS获得的最高功率密度为70±8 mW/m，比未改性铜通过电偶腐蚀获得的功率密度高约8倍且更稳定。因此，后续工艺提高了用于MFC应用的铜阳极的性能。
