Supercapacitive microbial fuel cell: Characterization and analysis for improved charge storage/delivery performance

Supercapacitive microbial fuel cells with various anode and cathode dimensions were investigated in order to determine the effect on cell capacitance and delivered power quality. The cathode size was shown to be the limiting component of the system in contrast to anode size. By doubling the cathode area, the peak power output was improved by roughly 120% for a 10 ms pulse discharge and internal resistance of the cell was decreased by ∼47%. A model was constructed in order to predict the performance of a hypothetical cylindrical MFC design with larger relative cathode size. It was found that a small device based on conventional materials with a volume of approximately 21 cm3 would be capable of delivering a peak power output of approximately 25 mW at 70 mA, corresponding to ∼1300 W m−3.