DOW CORNING 1-2577 Conformal Coating as an efficient diffusion material for cathode in the microbial fuel cell

Abstract

In this study, DOW CORNING 1-2577 Conformal Coating was proposed for the cathode diffusion layer of the microbial fuel cell (MFC). In MFCs, stainless steel mesh cathodes using DOW CORNING 1-2577 Conformal Coating/carbon as the diffusion layer and two poly (dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)/carbon diffusion layers and carbon cloth cathode with four poly (tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) diffusion layers were constructed for comparison. Under the same operational condition, the MFCs with the DOW CORNING 1-2577 Conformal Coating/carbon diffusion layer produced the maximum power density of 1585±52 mW·m^-2, compared with those using poly (tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) diffusion layers (1421±45 mW·m^-2) and poly (dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)/carbon diffusion layers (1353±49 mW·m^-2). The DOW CORNING 1-2577 Conformal Coating could be an alternative for the diffusion layer construction in the MFC due to its remarkable performance and much simple construction procedure.

Keywords

microbial fuel cell / diffusion layer / power density / DOW CORNING1-2577 Conformal Coating

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Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg