Thursday, 1 June 2017: 10:20
Grand Salon C - Section 16 (Hilton New Orleans Riverside)
A novel microorganism of Bioechem proprietary, named P1, promotes high electron transport activity on cathode, shown as the highest cathodic current output than the other reported microorganisms. A biocathode, using P1 as catalyst, was tested in an electrochemical system and showed enhanced performance than abiotic cathode. The performance of the biocathode was further improved through the microbial-electrode surface modification by reducing total free energy of the system for better sorption of the bacteria cells on to the electrode; providing more bacteria sorption sites on surface of the electrode; And adjusting the dissolved oxygen concentration on bacteria-electrode interface for faster bacteria metabolic rate and electron transfer rate. With the enhanced properties of the biocathode, the microorganisms can promote the on site energy supply 10 times or more. The biocathode was also first time applied into a primary battery setup and showed promising capacity and durability compare to a same size battery setup using abiotic electrodes and traditional chemical electrolyte.