Anion exchange polymer coated graphite granule electrodes for improving the performance of anodes in unbuffered microbial fuel cells

In this paper, graphite granule composite electrodes are prepared for microbial fuel cells (MFCs) by coating commercial graphite granules with the mixture of quaternary DABCO polysulfone or Nafion ion exchange polymer and carbon black. The results of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) suggest that the addition of carbon black could significantly improve the electrical conductivity of graphite granule anodes. When phosphate buffer solution (PBS) is replaced by NaCl solution, the current densities of the pristine anode, 0.08 g Nafion coated anode and 0.16 g QDPSU coated anode decrease by 52.6%, 20.6% and 10.3% at −0.2 V (vs. Ag/AgCl), respectively. The solution resistance of ion exchange polymer coated anodes is more stable in comparison with that of pristine anode. After 40 operational days, the performance drop of 0.16 g QDPSU coated anode when switching the solution from PBS to NaCl is still smaller than that of pristine anode. However, 0.08 g Nafion coated anode shows the similar performance in NaCl solution to the pristine anode after long term operation. This study reveals that QDPSU anion exchange polymer is more suitable for the anode modification. The QDPSU coated anode promises a great potential for three-dimensional anode based MFCs to treat domestic wastewater.