Working principle of microbial fuel cell and strategies for enhancing power generation performance

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a new technology that addresses the environmental deficiencies of other energy sources. At present, low energy output is a key bottleneck in the practical application of MFC. Based on the working principle of MFC, it was proposed that poor microbial activity, resistance to electron migration, proton transfer resistance, slow cathodic reduction reaction were the limiting factors for the energy output of MFC. The strategies for improving MFC electricity production performance were summarized from the following five aspects: adjusting pH and selecting the optimal salinity to enhance microbial metabolic activity; modifying anode materials to reduce electron migration resistance; enhancing electrolyte conductivity, optimizing membrane materials, and shortening electrode spacing to reduce proton transfer resistance; preparing efficient cathode catalysts and selecting excellent electron acceptors to accelerate the cathodic reduction reaction rate; and improving the configuration of MFC reactor to improve overall power generation performance. In the future, key research could be carried out in five areas, including synthesis of new cathode catalysts, reduction of membrane pollution, optimization of microbial growth environment, preparation of excellent electrode materials, and improvement of MFC reactor configuration.