Investigation of the Performance of Sediment Microbial Fuel Cells, in the Presence of Brush Cathodes of Various Metal

Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) are considered as one of the renewable energy sources. In the meantime, Sediment Microbial Fuel Cells (SMFCs) have a special place, especially in areas where nutrient-rich precipitates are used to grow microorganisms. One of the ways to produce renewable and non-destructive energy using the energy found in biomass resources is the microbial fuel cell. In this research, conductive metal brushes with high effective surface were evaluated as cathodes in sedimentary microbial fuel cells. In this work, the performance of SMFCs in electric power generation, as well as the resistance and durability of electrodes for four brushes of iron, stainless steel, rice, and copper, were studied. The results showed the lowest and highest corrosion rates of stainless steel and iron, respectively. The highest power density was obtained from SMFCs using copper brush cathode, which was equal to (382µW/cm2) and the lowest value for cathodic brushes Brass (19.24µW/cm2) was reported.