The effects of conductivity and CNT cathode on electricity generation in air-cathode microbial fuel cell

The characteristics of power generation were investigated by changing the electrical conductivity from 10 to 40mS/cm using air-cathode microbial fuel cell, which had graphite fiber fabric(GFF) anode. There were three kinds of cathode used: one was carbon cloth cathode coated with Pt, another was carbon nanotube(CNT) cathode with non-precious catalyst of Fe-Cu-Mn, and the other was carbon nanotube(CNT) cathode without any catalyst. When it was operated in batch mode, power density of 1369.5mW/ $m^2$ was achieved at conductivity of 20mS/cm. Power density from MFC with CNT cathode coated with multi-catalyst of Fe-Cu-Mn was shown about 985.55mW/ $m^2$ , which was 75.1% compared the power density of carbon cloth coated with Pt. This meant that CNT cathode coated with multi-catalyst of Fe-Cu-Mn could be an alternative of carbon cloth cathode.