Regular articleA novel anode fabricated by three-dimensional printing for use in urine-powered microbial fuel cell

- It is possible to gain electricity from synthesis urine through UMFC.
- Three-Dimensional Printing was employed to fabricate UMFC anode electrode.
- Under controlled anode electrode that pores connect with each other can be fabricated by 3DP.
- Power density of UMFC equipped PANI/3DP-Ti electrode was 400 times higher than 3DP-Ti UMFC.

Urine-powered microbial fuel cells (UMFCs) are bioelectrochemical system which can recover energy from urine-a typical wastewater produced in urban and aerospace ships. The anode is the key unit determining the UMFC performance. It is proposed in this paper to use three-dimensional printing (3DP) technology to fabricate 3D structure anodes which is advantageous for improving the performance. With the help of 3DP, any special anode design for a particular reactor could be manufactured, which can be difficult and even impossible for conventional methods Macro-porous 3D anodes of good electrochemical performance for UMFCs were fabricated by 3DP and polyaniline (PANI) surface modification. The surface of the anode materials is both hydrophilic and rough. The power densities of UMFCs equipped with PANI-modified 3DP anodes were 0.934 W m−3 and 0.798 W m−3(per anode chamber volume) fabricated from two different mother materials. These findings demonstrate that macro-porous anode can be fabricated by 3DP and can practically operate UMFCs.