2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
High performance microbial fuel cells utilizing nanocarbon as an electrode
| Project/Area Number |
24656437
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
Material processing/treatments
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| Research Institution | Tokyo Institute of Technology |
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Principal Investigator |
OHTAKE Naoto 東京工業大学, 理工学研究科, 教授 (40213756)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2012-04-01 – 2014-03-31
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| Keywords | 微生物燃料電池 / カーボンナノチューブ / 電極 / 表面修飾 / 変換効率 |
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| Research Abstract |
Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are promising devices for capturing the energy in waste biomass, meaning that they can generate electricity and treat wastewater at the same time. Although they have recently attracted considerable attention, their power densities are too low for practical use. Increasing the electrode surface area is a key factor for improving the performance of MFCs. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which have excellent electrical conductivity and extremely high specific surface area, are promising materials for electrodes. In this study, we reveal that CNTs have a strong interaction with the microorganism Saccharomyces cerevisiae. CNTs attach to S. cerevisiae cells and are dispersed in a mixture of water and S. cerevisiae. Here, we report a three-dimensional conductive network of dispersed CNTs, which utilizes the interaction between CNTs and S. cerevisiae, enabling the realization of a markedly increased electrode surface area and a large improvement in power density.
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