Layered corrugated electrode macrostructures boost microbial bioelectrocatalysis

Abstract

The future success of microbial bioelectrochemical systems like microbial fuel cells inevitably depends on the increase of their performance at decreasing material costs. One of the key elements and a research priority is the biofuel cell anode. Here we propose layered corrugated carbon (LCC) as an inexpensive but high performance electrode material produced from the carbonization of one of the most abundant packing materials of our society: corrugated cardboard. In the base configuration of one corrugated layer the projected current density of LCC already reaches 70 A m⁻². Increasing the number of corrugated layers increases the current density linearly. Thus, 200 A m⁻² are achieved at three and 390 A m⁻² at six corrugated layers. These current density values, which were confirmed by experiments in two independent laboratories, represent a performance increase of above one order of magnitude compared to the current state of research.