Modified graphite electrode by polyaniline/tourmaline improves the performance of bio-cathode microbial fuel cell

• The mineral tourmaline was used to modify graphite electrode.
• Tourmaline can enhance microbial growth and activity for better catalysis.
• Tourmaline-modified cathode arose electricity generation compared to the controls.

Bio-cathode which uses microorganisms as catalyst can reduce MFC cost and sustain similar power output compared to noble metal catalyst. Thereby, looking for a cathode material which is high conductivity, good biocompatibility and even can stimulate and enhance activity of bio-catalyst is of great interest. In this paper, modified electrode by tourmaline and polyaniline (reactor 3) was used as cathode. The output power density was improved by 492.6% and 192.8% compared to reactor 1 (unmodified cathode) and reactor 2 (cathode modified only by polyaniline) (54 mW m−2 for reactor 1, 138 mW m−2 for reactor 2 and 266 mW m−2 for reactor 3, respectively). When the external resistance was 800Ω, output voltages of reactor 1, 2 and 3 were kept at 0.20 ± 0.005 V, 0.26 ± 0.005 V and 0.37 ± 0.005 V, respectively. Cyclic voltammetry curves showed that reductive current of reactor 3 was higher than those of reactor 1 and 2, indicating that the cathode of reactor 3 had the strongest catalytic activity which was due to that tourmaline could help the interfacial electron transfer, and thereby facilitate the reduction of oxygen at the cathode. Results demonstrated that the tourmaline modified electrode could effectively improve the reduction reaction and enhance the performance of the whole MFC system.