Water Chestnut Husks-Derived Nanoporous Carbons as Electrode Materials for Microbial Fuel Cells

Nowadays, the energy shortage and water pollution are severe crises that many people are facing. As an emerging new sustainable technology, microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a potential solution by converting chemical energy into electricity using microbes. However, the advanced development of MFCs is limited by high cost and low efficiency of power output. Therefore, in this study, the water chestnut husk-derived nanoporous carbon (WCH) is introduced as the electrode material on both the anode and cathode sides. WCH, as agricultural waste, is usually handled with massive combustion every year, so the recycling action as a renewable material not only lowers the cost but also reduces air pollution in the future. As a result, the prominent performance compared with commercial activated carbon is attributed to the better biocompatibility for bacterial adherence on the anode and the graphitic-N as active sites for the ORR on the cathode. We also showed the great long-cycle stability of the MFC with WCHs. This outcome demonstrates the environmentally sustainable material WCH can be a promising material for MFCs.