A gold-sputtered carbon paper as an anode for improved electricity generation from a microbial fuel cell inoculated with Shewanella oneidensis MR-1

Gold is among the highly conductive and stable materials, which are ideal anodes for microbial fuel cells (MFCs). However, previous studies have shown that bare gold surface is recalcitrant for the colonization of some exoelectrogens, e.g., Shewanella putrefacians. In this work, the problem regarding the poor bio-compatibility of gold as an anode material was sorted out through coupling it with carbon paper. A new composite anode material was fabricated through sputtering gold layer homogeneously on carbon paper matrix. Results of cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in Fe(CN)63−/4− solution demonstrated better electrochemical performance of the carbon paper–gold (C–Au) composite than either carbon paper or bare gold, when they were used in MFCs. With Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 as the inoculum, the C–Au anode-based MFC produced total electric charges higher than the carbon-paper-anode-based MFC by 47%. The cyclic voltammetry analysis and the scanning electron microscopy observation showed that the MR-1 biofilm growth was accelerated when the carbon paper surface was sputtered with gold. Utilization of such a carbon paper–gold composite significantly enhanced the MFC performance.