Imperial College London
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DrFeliceTorrisi

Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Chemistry

Senior Lecturer in Chemistry of Two-Dimensional Materials
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 5818f.torrisi

 
 
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Location

 

401AMolecular Sciences Research HubWhite City Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Call:2017:10.1039/c7ta06895f,
author = {Call, TP and Carey, T and Bombelli, P and Lea-Smith, DJ and Hooper, P and Howe, CJ and Torrisi, F},
doi = {10.1039/c7ta06895f},
journal = {Journal of Materials Chemistry A},
pages = {23872--23886},
title = {Platinum-free, graphene based anodes and air cathodes for single chamber microbial fuel cells},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c7ta06895f},
volume = {5},
year = {2017}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) exploit the ability of microorganisms to generate electrical power during metabolism of substrates. However, the low efficiency of extracellular electron transfer from cells to the anode and the use of expensive rare metals as catalysts, such as platinum, limit their application and scalability. In this study we investigate the use of pristine graphene based electrodes at both the anode and the cathode of a MFC for efficient electrical energy production from the metabolically versatile bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris CGA009. We achieve a volumetric peak power output (PV) of up to 3.51 ± 0.50 W m-3 using graphene based aerogel anodes with a surface area of 8.2 m2 g-1. We demonstrate that enhanced MFC output arises from the interplay of the improved surface area, enhanced conductivity, and catalytic surface groups of the graphene based electrode. In addition, we show a 500-fold increase in PV to 1.3 ± 0.23 W m-3 when using a graphene coated stainless steel (SS) air cathode, compared to an uncoated SS cathode, demonstrating the feasibility of a platinum-free, graphene catalysed MFCs. Finally, we show a direct application for microwatt-consuming electronics by connecting several of these coin sized devices in series to power a digital clock.
AU  - Call,TP
AU  - Carey,T
AU  - Bombelli,P
AU  - Lea-Smith,DJ
AU  - Hooper,P
AU  - Howe,CJ
AU  - Torrisi,F
DO  - 10.1039/c7ta06895f
EP  - 23886
PY  - 2017///
SN  - 2050-7496
SP  - 23872
TI  - Platinum-free, graphene based anodes and air cathodes for single chamber microbial fuel cells
T2  - Journal of Materials Chemistry A
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c7ta06895f
UR  - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29456857
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/69505
VL  - 5
ER  -
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