Enhancement of the electron transfer and ion transport phenomena in microbial fuel cells containing humic acid-modified bioanodes.

Although microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are an attractive alternative to environmental remediation and power generation, there are still significant limitations related to power density and coulombic efficiency. Previous works have shown that the addition of humic acids (HA, a type of organic matter contained in soils and composting-by-products), improves the fuel to electricity conversion at the porous bioanodes (ba)|anolyte junction. In this work, MFCs having HA-modified bioanodes (MFC/baHA) were prepared and electrochemically analyzed utilizing discharge curves (cell potential vs current density plots) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). This investigation was motivated by looking for a deeper understanding of the functional effects of HA molecules on the operation of baHA-containing Microbial Fuel Cells (MFC/baHA). Our results revealed that the modification of bioanodes with HA molecules decreases the activation energy of the acetate ion oxidation, increasing by a factor of three the consumption rate of this fuel at the baHA|anolyte interface, and enhancing the diffusive transport of these ions through the pores of the baHA permeated by the anolyte.