The Application Of 3D Ti₃C₂/Loofah Sponge Hybrid Anode In Microbial Fuel Cells

Microbial Fuel Cells?MFCs?can convert the chemical energy of organic matters in wastewater into electricity directly by electricigens and do not produce pollutants.As an important green energy technology,MFCs have great application prospects in the future.However,the output power density of MFC is still very low.Among those,anode material is one of the important factors that affect the performances of MFC.Therefore,in this thesis,the natural plant-loofah sponge?LS?with low cost and porous structure and highly conductive Ti₃C₂ MXene are employed to prepare an anode material with high electrochemical performance.Its effects on electricity generation of MFCs are studied as follows.In this paper,a three-dimensional?3D?porous carbon material?Carbonized Loofah Sponge,CLS?was prepared by high-temperature carbonization of loofah sponge,then a 3D Ti₃C₂/CLS hybrid was formed by coating Ti₃C₂ MXene on its surface.According to the results of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy?EIS?,4-CLS exhibited the lowest charge transfer impedance?16.7??and facilitated electron transfer.Thus,4-CLS that referred to as Ti₃C₂/CLS was used as the anode to assemble MFC,while carbon felt?Carbon Felt,CF?and CLS were also used as the anodes of MFCs as control.After various tests,it was found that Ti₃C₂/CLS had better biocompatibility and more electrochemically catalytic active sites than CF and CLS.Ti₃C₂/CLS-MFC started up after running for 45.5 h,and reached the maximum voltage?0.632 V?in the first cycle,higher than that both of CF-MFC and CLS-MFC.After running for 80 days,Ti₃C₂/CLS-MFC could reach the maximum voltage of 0.602 V.It outputted maximum power density of 1556.42 W/m³,which was 2.03 times of CF-MFC?772.33 W/m³?and 2.04 times of CLS-MFC?766.48W/m³?,respectively.Moreover,Ti₃C₂/CLS-MFC generated a high COD removal rate?85.54%?and coulombic efficiency?63.94%?,displaying excellent organic degradation and electricity generation ability.In summary,the three-dimensional titanium carbide/loofah sponge hybrid?Ti₃C₂/CLS?is not only low-cost,but also has excellent in electrochemical performance,which can effectively improve the electrical performance of MFCs.