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Biological Fuel Cells and Their Applications

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A4: Bio-Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 February 2019) | Viewed by 16468

Special Issue Editors

Group of Analysis and Processes (GA&P), Department of Chemistry, Angers University, F-49045 Angers, Cedex 01, France
Interests: water and wastewater treatment; chemical engineering; water treatment; wastewater treatment; wastewater engineering; water purification technologies; environmental engineering; adsorption; environmental impact assessment; fungal microbial fuel cell
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
European Institute of Membranes, University of Montpellier, 34 095 MONTPELLIER CEDEX 5, France
Interests: bioelectrochemistry; biofuel cells (enzymatic and microbial); electrode modification; ion exchange membranes; electromembranar process

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The present Special Issue is entitled Biological Fuel Cells and Their Applications. It is a very open issue dedicated to all users/developpers/designers of microbial fuel cells, for everyone everywhere in the world. Our main wish is that contributors submit applications within the subjects of Health, Environment, or Food. The issue is a very open contribution to all scientists. Academic and industrial works are accepted.

Prof. Maxime Pontie
Dr. Christophe Innocent
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • microbial fuel cell
  • enzymatic fuel cell
  • microorganisms electro-connection
  • microbial electrolysis
  • bioelectrochemistry
  • electro-active biofilms
  • electrolytes
  • sensors, biosensors
  • biological fuel cell as biosensor
  • bioremediation
  • power production
  • biocompatibility
  • electrode materials (graphene, graphite, nickel foam, etc.)
  • ORR
  • biofuel (hydrogen bio-production)
  • biomass
  • proton exchange membrane
  • biofouling
  • in situ tools

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 2601 KiB  
Article
Comparative Evaluation of Coated and Non-Coated Carbon Electrodes in a Microbial Fuel Cell for Treatment of Municipal Sludge
by Arpita Nandy, Mohita Sharma, Senthil Velan Venkatesan, Nicole Taylor, Lisa Gieg and Venkataraman Thangadurai
Energies 2019, 12(6), 1034; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12061034 - 16 Mar 2019
Cited by 28 | Viewed by 3910
Abstract
This study aims to provide insight into the cost-effective catalyst on power generation in a microbial fuel cell (MFC) for treatment of municipal sludge. Power production from MFCs with carbon, Fe2O3, and Pt electrodes were compared. The MFC with [...] Read more.
This study aims to provide insight into the cost-effective catalyst on power generation in a microbial fuel cell (MFC) for treatment of municipal sludge. Power production from MFCs with carbon, Fe2O3, and Pt electrodes were compared. The MFC with no coating on carbon generated the least power density (6.72 mW·m−2) while the MFC with Fe2O3-coating on carbon anodes and carbon cathodes generated a 78% higher power output (30.18 mW·m−2). The third MFC with Fe2O3-coated carbon anodes and Pt on carbon as the cathode catalyst generated the highest power density (73.16 mW·m−2) at room temperature. Although the power generated with a conventional Pt catalyst was more than two-fold higher than Fe2O3, this study suggests that Fe2O3 can be investigated further as an efficient, low-cost, and alternative catalyst of Pt, which can be optimized for improving performance of MFCs. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) results demonstrated reduced resistance of MFCs and better charge transfer between biofilm and electrodes containing coated anodes compared to non-coated anodes. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to analyze biofilm morphology and microbial community analysis was performed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, which revealed the presence of known anaerobic fermenters and methanogens that may play a key role in energy generation in the MFCs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological Fuel Cells and Their Applications)
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10 pages, 1794 KiB  
Article
Detection of Human Plasma Glucose Using a Self-Powered Glucose Biosensor
by Gymama Slaughter and Tanmay Kulkarni
Energies 2019, 12(5), 825; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12050825 - 01 Mar 2019
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2886
Abstract
This work presents the characterization of a self-powered glucose biosensor using individual sequential assays of human plasma glucose obtained from diabetic patients. The self-powered glucose biosensor is exploited to optimize the assay parameters for sensing plasma glucose levels. In particular, the biofuel cell [...] Read more.
This work presents the characterization of a self-powered glucose biosensor using individual sequential assays of human plasma glucose obtained from diabetic patients. The self-powered glucose biosensor is exploited to optimize the assay parameters for sensing plasma glucose levels. In particular, the biofuel cell component of the system at pH 7.4, 37 °C generates a power density directly proportional to plasma glucose and exhibited a maximum power density of 0.462 mW·cm−2 at a cell voltage of 0.213 V in 5 mM plasma glucose. Plasma glucose is further sensed by monitoring the charge/discharge frequency (Hz) of the integrated capacitor functioning as the transducer. With this method, the plasma glucose is quantitatively detected in 100 microliters of human plasma with unprecedented sensitivity, as high as 104.51 ± 0.7 Hz·mM−1·cm−2 and a detection limit of 2.31 ± 0.3 mM. The results suggest the possibility to sense human plasma glucose at clinically relevant concentrations without the use of an external power source. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological Fuel Cells and Their Applications)
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Review

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21 pages, 1037 KiB  
Review
Applications of Emerging Bioelectrochemical Technologies in Agricultural Systems: A Current Review
by Simeng Li, Gang Chen and Aavudai Anandhi
Energies 2018, 11(11), 2951; https://doi.org/10.3390/en11112951 - 29 Oct 2018
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4086
Abstract
Background: Bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) are emerging energy-effective and environment-friendly technologies. Different applications of BESs are able to effectively minimize wastes and treat wastewater while simultaneously recovering electricity, biohydrogen and other value-added chemicals via specific redox reactions. Although there are many studies that have [...] Read more.
Background: Bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) are emerging energy-effective and environment-friendly technologies. Different applications of BESs are able to effectively minimize wastes and treat wastewater while simultaneously recovering electricity, biohydrogen and other value-added chemicals via specific redox reactions. Although there are many studies that have greatly advanced the performance of BESs over the last decade, research and reviews on agriculture-relevant applications of BESs are very limited. Considering the increasing demand for food, energy and water due to human population expansion, novel technologies are urgently needed to promote productivity and sustainability in agriculture. Methodology: This review study is based on an extensive literature search regarding agriculture-related BES studies mainly in the last decades (i.e., 2009–2018). The databases used in this review study include Scopus, Google Scholar and Web of Science. The current and future applications of bioelectrochemical technologies in agriculture have been discussed. Findings/Conclusions: BESs have the potential to recover considerable amounts of electric power and energy chemicals from agricultural wastes and wastewater. The recovered energy can be used to reduce the energy input into agricultural systems. Other resources and value-added chemicals such as biofuels, plant nutrients and irrigation water can also be produced in BESs. In addition, BESs may replace unsustainable batteries to power remote sensors or be designed as biosensors for agricultural monitoring. The possible applications to produce food without sunlight and remediate contaminated soils using BESs have also been discussed. At the same time, agricultural wastes can also be processed into construction materials or biochar electrodes/electrocatalysts for reducing the high costs of current BESs. Future studies should evaluate the long-term performance and stability of on-farm BES applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological Fuel Cells and Their Applications)
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21 pages, 1418 KiB  
Review
Bioelectrochemical Systems for Removal of Selected Metals and Perchlorate from Groundwater: A Review
by Daniele Cecconet, Arianna Callegari and Andrea G. Capodaglio
Energies 2018, 11(10), 2643; https://doi.org/10.3390/en11102643 - 03 Oct 2018
Cited by 52 | Viewed by 5046
Abstract
Groundwater contamination is a major issue for human health, due to its largely diffused exploitation for water supply. Several pollutants have been detected in groundwater; amongst them arsenic, cadmium, chromium, vanadium, and perchlorate. Various technologies have been applied for groundwater remediation, involving physical, [...] Read more.
Groundwater contamination is a major issue for human health, due to its largely diffused exploitation for water supply. Several pollutants have been detected in groundwater; amongst them arsenic, cadmium, chromium, vanadium, and perchlorate. Various technologies have been applied for groundwater remediation, involving physical, chemical, and biological processes. Bioelectrochemical systems (BES) have emerged over the last 15 years as an alternative to conventional treatments for a wide variety of wastewater, and have been proposed as a feasible option for groundwater remediation due to the nature of the technology: the presence of two different redox environments, the use of electrodes as virtually inexhaustible electron acceptor/donor (anode and cathode, respectively), and the possibility of microbial catalysis enhance their possibility to achieve complete remediation of contaminants, even in combination. Arsenic and organic matter can be oxidized at the bioanode, while vanadium, perchlorate, chromium, and cadmium can be reduced at the cathode, which can be biotic or abiotic. Additionally, BES has been shown to produce bioenergy while performing organic contaminants removal, lowering the overall energy balance. This review examines the application of BES for groundwater remediation of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, vanadium, and perchlorate, focusing also on the perspectives of the technology in the groundwater treatment field. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological Fuel Cells and Their Applications)
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