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Nano Research 2022, 15(6): 5089-5097 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4120-1
Research Article | Issue | Published: 25 February 2022

Tuning electrospinning hierarchically porous nanowires anode for enhanced bioelectrocatalysis in microbial fuel cells

Show Author's Information Shiwei Qian1,§,  Xiaoshuai Wu2,§( ),  Zhuanzhuan Shi2,  Xiaofen Li2,  Xin Sun1,  Yongjia Ma1,  Wei Sun3,  Chunxian Guo2,  ChangMing Li1,2( )
Institute for Advanced Cross-field Science and College of Life Science, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China
Institute of Materials Science and Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215011, China
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China

§ Shiwei Qian and Xiaoshuai Wu contributed equally to this work.

Keywords:
biofilm, microbial fuel cells, hierarchically porous nanowires, interfacial electron transfer
Topics:
Energy
Cite this article:
Qian S, Wu X, Shi Z, et al. Tuning electrospinning hierarchically porous nanowires anode for enhanced bioelectrocatalysis in microbial fuel cells. Nano Research, 2022, 15(6): 5089-5097. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4120-1
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Pore structure plays critical roles in electrode kinetics but very challenging to tailor porous nanowires with rationally distributed pore sizes in a bioelectrochemical system. Herein a hierarchically porous nanowires-material is delicately tuned for an optimal pore structure by adjusting the weight percentage of SiO2-hard template in an electrospinning precursor solution. The as-prepared optimal electrospinning nanowires further used as an anode of microbial fuel cells (MFCs), delivering a maximum output power density of 1,407.42 mW·m−2 with 4.24 and 10 times higher than that of the non-porous fiber and carbon cloth anode, respectively. The great enhancement is attributed to the rational pore structure which offers the largest surface area while the rich-mesopores well match with the size of electron mediators for a high density of catalytic centers. This work provides thoughtful insights to design of hierarchical porous electrode for high-performance MFCs and other bioelectrochemical system devices.


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Abstract
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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Tuning electrospinning hierarchically porous nanowires anode for enhanced bioelectrocatalysis in microbial fuel cells

Show Author's information Shiwei Qian1,§, Xiaoshuai Wu2,§( ), Zhuanzhuan Shi2, Xiaofen Li2, Xin Sun1, Yongjia Ma1, Wei Sun3, Chunxian Guo2, ChangMing Li1,2( )
Institute for Advanced Cross-field Science and College of Life Science, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China
Institute of Materials Science and Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215011, China
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China

§ Shiwei Qian and Xiaoshuai Wu contributed equally to this work.

Abstract

Pore structure plays critical roles in electrode kinetics but very challenging to tailor porous nanowires with rationally distributed pore sizes in a bioelectrochemical system. Herein a hierarchically porous nanowires-material is delicately tuned for an optimal pore structure by adjusting the weight percentage of SiO2-hard template in an electrospinning precursor solution. The as-prepared optimal electrospinning nanowires further used as an anode of microbial fuel cells (MFCs), delivering a maximum output power density of 1,407.42 mW·m−2 with 4.24 and 10 times higher than that of the non-porous fiber and carbon cloth anode, respectively. The great enhancement is attributed to the rational pore structure which offers the largest surface area while the rich-mesopores well match with the size of electron mediators for a high density of catalytic centers. This work provides thoughtful insights to design of hierarchical porous electrode for high-performance MFCs and other bioelectrochemical system devices.

Keywords: biofilm, microbial fuel cells, hierarchically porous nanowires, interfacial electron transfer

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 16 November 2021
Revised: 22 December 2021
Accepted: 28 December 2021
Published: 25 February 2022
Issue date: June 2022

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press 2022

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2021YFA0910400), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21605110 and 21972102), Natural Science Research Foundation of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (Nos. 19KJB150038 and 21KJB180018), Natural Science Foundation of Suzhou University of Science and Technology (Nos. XKQ2018014 and XKZ2019011). This work was also funded by Open Foundation of The Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biochip and Medical Diagnosis, Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Micro and Nano Heat Fluid Flow Technology and Energy Application, Collaborative Innovation Center of Water Treatment Technology and Material, The innovation platform for Academinicians of Hainan Province, Suzhou Foreign Academician Workstation.

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