A novel polyaniline interlayer manganese dioxide composite anode for high-performance microbial fuel cell

Sandwich-like structure of manganese dioxide and polyanilline and manganese dioxide (MnO2/PANI/MnO2) were deposited on carbon felt anode to improve the power output and storage capacity of microbial fuel cell. This novel structure can significantly increase the active surface area of electrode; provide high interfacial area, short ion diffusion path, and fast electrical pathways. The polyanilline interlayer aims at obtaining a better contact between the manganese dioxide layers and a good electrochemical conductivity of the electrode. The maximum power density of the MFC with a MnO2/PANI/MnO2 anode reaches 1124.8 mW m(-2) is 11.6 times higher than that of the bare carbon felt anode (97.6 mW m(-2)). During the chronoamperometric experiment with 120 min of charging and 20 min of discharging, the-MnO2/PANI/MnO2 electrode was able to store 27574 C m-2, whereas the bare carbon felt anode was only able to store 8709 C m(-2). This study suggests that the MFC anode containing MnO2/PANI/MnO2 composite materials shows potential for storing energy from waste water and releasing in a short time to the electronic device. (C) 2017 Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.