Characteristics of the photosynthesis microbial fuel cell with a Spirulinaplatensis biofilm

Abstract

A novel design of a photosynthetic microbial fuel cell (PMFC) is constructed. It is a membrane-less andmediator-free apparatus with a gilding gold mesh as an anode and a graphite carbon cloth as a cathode.The electrode spacing is 4 cm. Spirulina platensis is aggregated and deposited on the anode to form a thinbiofilm. Results show that the chlorophyll (Chl) content of the biofilm attributed the PMFC’s electricityperformance. The open circuit voltage (OCV) reading of PMFC is proportional to Chl content when theChl was below 0.5 mg. The maximal OCV of PMFC is 0.49 V. When the PMFC was connected to an externalresistance of 1 kO, a maximum power density of 10mWm 2 was obtained. This designed PMFC yieldedcompetitively high OCV and power density as compared to other microbial fuel cells reported in theliterature