Improving current production of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 with electrospun anode materials

We present a comparison of two electrospun anode materials characterized with Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 under steady state conditions. The achievable anodic current densities of microbial fuel cells in a half-cell setup operated with S. oneidensis are very responsive to the anode morphology. Two electrospun anode materials were investigated which mainly differ in fiber diameter resulting in an approximately four-fold fiber surface area difference. The electrospun material with 126 nm fibers yields current density of (56 ± 14) µA cm -2 (normalized to the projected anode area) at -0.2 V vs. SCE and performs more than a factor of three better than the material with 848 nm fibers with a current density of (16 ± 14) µA cm -2 . The volumetric current density of the 126 nm fiber material (3378 ± 830) µA cm -3 is more than a factor of three higher than the carbon nanotube based material