Development of a three-dimensional macroporous sponge biocathode coated with carbon nanotube–MXene composite for high-performance microbial electrosynthesis systems

Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) is a renewable energy platform capable of reducing the carbon footprint by converting carbon dioxide/bicarbonate to useful chemical commodities. However, the development of feasible electrode structures, inefficient current densities, and the production of unfavorable electrosynthesis products remain a major challenge. To this end, a three-dimensional (3D) macroporous sponge coated with a carbon nanotube/MXene composite (CNT-MXene@Sponge) was evaluated as an MES cathode. The macroporous scaffold, together with intrinsic electrical conductivity, enhanced the charge transfer efficiency and selective microbial enrichment characteristics of the CNT-MXene@Sponge cathode resulted in an average current density of -324 mA m-2, which was substantially higher than that of the uncoated (-100 mA m-2), CNT (-141 mA m-2), and MXene (-214 mA m-2) coated sponge electrode. The uniform 3D structure and abundant active sites of the coated material facilitated mass diffusion and microbial growth, which produced 1.5 orders of magnitude higher butyrate than the uncoated sponge. The high-throughput sequencing results showed the selective enrichment of electrogenic and butyrate-producing phylum, Firmicutes. These results suggest that the MES performance could be enhanced using the collective features of large-pore network structure, such as better conductivity, improved capacitance, and selective microbial enrichment.