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Promoting the anode performance of microbial fuel cells with nano-molybdenum disulfide/carbon nanotubes composite catalyst

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Abstract

The design and manufacture of advanced anode materials with superior quality are significant for assembling high-performance microbial fuel cells (MFCs). The present study aims to investigate the synergistic effect of MoS2/CNTs nanocomposite as a novel anode-modifying material of MFCs. XRD, XPS, SEM, TEM and electrochemical analyses were performed to confirm the nanocomposite, to understand the morphology and to study the electrochemical properties of the modified electrodes. The performance of the MoS2/CNTs/carbon paper (CP)-MFCs was investigated and compared with that of MoS2/CP-MFCs, CNTs/CP-MFCs and CP-MFCs. The densest biofilm was formed on MoS2/CNTs-modified anode compared to MoS2/CP, CNTs/CP and CP anode, and MFCs with MoS2/CNTs-modified anodes achieved the maximum power density of 645 ± 32 mW m−2, which is three times greater than MFCs with bare carbon paper anodes (213 ± 10 mW m−2). These results demonstrate that the synthesized MoS2/CNTs nanocomposite could be exploited as an efficient anode catalyst for improving the performance of MFCs.

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The datasets used or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The work was supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Projects of Henan Province, China (Grant No. 202102310269).

Funding

Scientific and Technological Research Projects of Henan Province, China (Grant No. 202102310269).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Chemistry, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453003, People’s Republic of China

    Wei Guo, Xiangrong Li & Tianjun Ni

  2. Audit Department, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453003, People’s Republic of China

    Liang Cui

  3. School of Pharmacy, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453003, People’s Republic of China

    Yufei Li & Hui Zhang

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  1. Wei Guo
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Contributions

WG was responsible for the whole experiment arrangement and performed the synthesis of the nanomaterials, the electrochemical analysis, the maintenance, operation and measurement of the MFCs reactors, and was a major contributor in writing the manuscript. XL performed synthesis and characterizations of the nanomaterials and was a major contributor in writing the manuscript. LC performed the maintenance, operation and measurement of the MFCs reactors and the pretreatment of the biofilm observation. YL performed the electrochemical analysis and the maintenance, operation and measurement of the MFCs reactors. HZ performed the maintenance, operation and measurement of the MFCs reactors. TN was responsible for the whole experiment arrangement. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Wei Guo or Tianjun Ni.

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Guo, W., Li, X., Cui, L. et al. Promoting the anode performance of microbial fuel cells with nano-molybdenum disulfide/carbon nanotubes composite catalyst. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 45, 159–170 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-021-02649-w

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