Proceedings of 26th Annual Technological Advances in Science, Medicine and Engineering Conference 2022

Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube/ Natural Polymer/ SnO2 Composite Electrode for Microbial Fuel Cell
Suthajini Thiruketheeswaranathan, Kajana Thirunavukarasu, Dr. Shivatharsiny Yohi
Abstract

Increasing energy demand is unavoidable, and the conventional fuels still play a major role of total energy requirement than renewable energy. The over dependence on fossil fuels can be reduced by using renewable and carbon-neutral energy sources in a large amount. Therefore, an alternative, eco-friendly and cheap, energy source has been increasing the attention. Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is an eco-friendly practice, produces energy and solution for waste treatment. This work focused to construct the MFC with efficient anode material.  Four different electrodes, such as MWCNT/Pure, MWCNT/Chitosan, MWCNT/ SnO2 and MWCNT/Chitosan/SnO2 were used in this study. SnO2 was synthesized by hydrothermal method and Chitosan was synthesized from shrimp cells. XRD and UV characterization were performed for each electrode. Art brush coating method was handled on Nickle foam with 10% PVDF binder and activated carbon. Dual chamber fuel cell was constructed with the fabricated anode and carbon cathode. Activated sludge was the inoculant for the microbial fuel cell. Based on the electrode verification MFC performance was varied. MWCNT/SnO2 shows the higher electrical conductivity (83.86 S/cm), redox potential (0.345 V) and power density than MWCNT/Chitosan/ SnO2. MWCNT were well embedded by tin oxide. The conductivity of MWCNT/SnO2 may modulate the depletion layer at p-n junction of MWCNT (p-type) and SnO2 (n-type) and may enhance the performance. Therefore, doping of SnO2 improve the anode stability than doping of chitosan.


Last modified: 2022-08-20
Building: TASME Center
Room: Science Hall
Date: August 27, 2022 - 11:50 AM – 12:05 PM

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