A sustainable approach towards utilization of plastic waste for an efficient electrode in microbial fuel cell applications

Abstract Microbial fuel cells (MFC) are a novel technique for power generation from wastewater. A number of approaches for the modification of physical as well as chemical properties of the electrodes can be employed to attain the maximum output power density and high power electricity. The use of an active organic linker, extracted from waste residue (plastic), for the synthesis of porous nanostructured materials would be beneficial in the fabrication of electrodes for MFC. Herein, terephthalic acid monomer (t) derived from plastic waste was successfully applied as an electrochemically active linking unit to form an iron-based metal-organic framework (Fe-t-MOF: MIL-53(Fe)). The synthesized Fe-t-MOF was further modified with conducting polymer (polyaniline (PANI)). The produced nanocomposite (Fe-t-MOF/PANI) was coated on stainless steel (SS) disk (as a current collector) for use as an electrode component of the MFC system. The power density, open circuit potential (OCP), and a limiting current density of the MFC are 680 mW/m2, 0.67 V, and 3500 mA/m2, respectively. The technique opted here should help search a novel, efficient, sustainable, and cost-effective route for the modification of the plastic waste into an MFC electrode to achieve bioenergy production through wastewater treatment.